employee
Americannoun
noun
Usage
What does employee mean? An employee is someone who gets paid to work for a person or company. Workers don’t need to work full time to be considered employees—they simply need to be paid to work by an employer (the person or business that pays them). The term employee is sometimes used to distinguish contract workers from full employees (who often earn additional benefits), but in this example, both types of workers are considered employees in the general sense. Example: My company has more than 500 employees.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of employee
First recorded in 1825–35; from French employé “employed,” past participle of employer to employ; see -ee
Explanation
An employee is someone who's hired to do a particular job for pay. If you like to shop in a certain store, you might also enjoy being an employee there. You can see the verb employ, meaning "put to use," in employee. You can employ a pen in writing a letter, just as a grocery store might employ workers to collect the shopping carts from the parking lot. A person who is put to work is an employee. Employee implies that the worker reports to a boss, and it's most commonly used for non-executives who work for a salary.
Vocabulary lists containing employee
"Dogs at Work"
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Vocabulary for the Naturalization Interview
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Units 6–7
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Joby filed a suit in November, alleging corporate espionage against Archer and George Kivork, a former Joby employee who left to work for Archer.
From Los Angeles Times • May 20, 2026
This is a mechanism for eventually potentially suing the government for damages caused by a federal employee.
From Slate • May 19, 2026
Aware House Books, a New Age-oriented bookstore in Regina, Saskatchewan, posted a video of an employee ripping up Chopra’s books, and announced it would no longer order or carry them.
From Salon • May 19, 2026
Altman, fired by OpenAI's board in November 2023 for a lack of candor before being reinstated under employee pressure, emerged with allegations of manipulation and a toxic work culture unresolved.
From Barron's • May 18, 2026
Alaric had even told them that Spares used to be assigned a Hall of Elders employee to follow them around and record everything they did.
From "Witchlings" by Claribel A. Ortega
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
