employer
Americannoun
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a person or business that employs one or more people, especially for wages or salary.
a fair employer.
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a person or thing that makes use of or occupies someone or something.
an inadequate employer of one's time.
noun
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a person, business, firm, etc, that employs workers
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a person who employs; user
Usage
What does employer mean? An employer is a person, company, or organization that employs people—pays them for work.The people who are paid to work are called employees. Employers provide employment.Less commonly, employer can mean something that occupies someone or someone that uses something (the word employ can also mean to use), as in Be a good employer of your time. Example: If the factory closes, thousands of people will lose their jobs—it’s the largest employer in the county.
Other Word Forms
- preemployer noun
- proemployer adjective
Etymology
Origin of employer
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.
Yet they have to correct for a yearslong decline in employer response rates to BLS surveys—which does not negate the data overall, but certainly makes preliminary calculations a bit more unsteady and speculative.
From Slate • Apr. 3, 2026
Fifty years ago, Steve Wozniak knew he built a great personal computer, but the young engineer couldn’t convince his employer, Hewlett-Packard, to buy into the big idea.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 30, 2026
Complications arose when my employer went bankrupt and was acquired by a new company.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 23, 2026
Chisholm now makes $25 an hour at Temple University Hospital and is working on a bachelor’s degree in human-resource management, which her employer is helping fund.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 21, 2026
Gold’s former employer, a chemical plant called the Pennsylvania Sugar Company, was hiring again.
From "Bomb" by Steve Sheinkin
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.
