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.

---

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

Annette Benning and Ed Harris co-star, so at least Sheridan is — in all sincerity — doing an A+ job of keeping Hollywood’s greatest actors of a certain age employed.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 30, 2026

Alastair Cuthbert is employed by Devon and Cornwall Police as its coroner's services manager, and says having a team to call on to look again at cold cases is a "really useful resource".

From BBC • Apr. 29, 2026

But even by those standards, the scenes of Jesus Christ and Sonic the Hedgehog racing past security guards employed by the Church of Scientology in recent days were a little bizarre.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 28, 2026

Jones served as James's personal coach during the 2022–2023 season after the star joined the Lakers, without being employed by the team.

From Barron's • Apr. 28, 2026

Xu was an analyst employed by Deutsche Bank, but Lippmann gave everyone the idea he kept him tied up to his Bloomberg terminal like a pet.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

Related Words

• engaged
• hired
• occupied