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
- preemployee noun
- proemployee adjective
Etymology
Origin of employee
First recorded in 1825–35; from French employé “employed,” past participle of employer to employ; -ee
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.
But its language now substitutes for institutional judgment about standards, expectations and limits for student and employee behavior.
A former employee of her family’s small-town Kansas bank, she has demonstrated a willingness, unusual among regulators, to hear out banks over their criticisms of the supervisory process and even specific interactions with examiners.
Its consumer complaint group has just 34 employees and hasn’t changed staffing levels despite the surge in wildfire claims in 2025, according to California payroll records.
From Los Angeles Times
Stephan said her office is continuing to investigate suspected malfeasance of county funds and encourages employees to report concerns.
From Los Angeles Times
They were nearly outnumbered by Chipotle employees on their break.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
