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

Example Sentences

The show has also aggressively employed social media to promote its Spirit Tunnel, where staff members lining a corridor greet celebrities with chants on their way to the stage.

From Los Angeles Times

"It’s a crazy country. You go to bed with one president and wake up with another," Fabiola Fernandez, a self‑employed worker, told AFP in Lima Thursday.

From Barron's

One fear is disruption to the job market, especially in India where millions of people are employed in call centres and tech support services.

From Barron's

Research from the Center for Migration Studies finds that the undocumented workforce in the U.S. is large and overwhelmingly employed across key sectors of the economy.

From The Wall Street Journal

The site’s imagery—replete with barrel curls, pink cowboy boots and milkmaid dresses—sketches an ideal of a modern conservative woman: a churchgoing, city-dwelling young mother who is employed and upwardly mobile.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• engaged
• hired
• occupied