employed

American  

[em-ploid] / ɛmˈplɔɪd /

adjective

1. given employment, or paid work; hired, especially permanently by inclusion on a payroll.

   The comedy revolves around a beauty salon owner and her newly employed male stylist.

2. applied or used; made use of.

   In the study, drilling with flashcards was the least frequently employed strategy for language learning.

3. kept busy or engaged with some work or activity.

   I never feel usefully employed in science except when I'm actually gathering data.

4. (of time, energies, etc.) occupied; devoted to some pursuit.

   Working on my quilt gave me many happily employed hours.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of employ.

Other Word Forms

• de-employed
  adjective
• well-employed
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of employed

First recorded in 1560–70; employ ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. ) for the adjective senses; employ ( def. ) + -ed ¹ ( def. ) for the verb sense

Explanation

Someone who's employed has a job or is busy with something. Some people believe that employed teenagers get themselves in less trouble than those without jobs. If you're working, you're employed. Most employed people work traditional full-time jobs, although an increasing number of them are freelancers or have part-time positions. Another way to use this adjective is to mean "used," as when you say, "The employed methods for keeping the classroom calm seem a little extreme to me." The adjective employed comes from the related verb, employ, "use, apply, occupy, or hire."

Example Sentences

Over 53,000 fewer people were employed in the country's energy-intensive industries by March this year, a 6.3 percent decline.

From Barron's • May 15, 2026

Tuition and fees today are $22,570, the four-year graduation rate is 78% and roughly 95% of graduates are employed or in graduate school within six months.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 14, 2026

The latest tech has also been employed to make machine tools, like table saws, safer.

From BBC • May 11, 2026

When a term like “mother” is employed so generously, it loses all substantive heft.

From Salon • May 10, 2026

The oilmen anxiously pored over geological maps and tried to glean intelligence about leases from men they employed as “rock hounds” and spies.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann

Related Words

• engaged
• hired
• occupied