employed
Americanadjective
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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.
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applied or used; made use of.
In the study, drilling with flashcards was the least frequently employed strategy for language learning.
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kept busy or engaged with some work or activity.
I never feel usefully employed in science except when I'm actually gathering data.
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(of time, energies, etc.) occupied; devoted to some pursuit.
Working on my quilt gave me many happily employed hours.
verb
Other Word Forms
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The employment rate, the proportion of the working-age population that is employed, also ticked up 0.1 point to 60.9%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Teams of human moderators once employed by all the major platforms have been gutted.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026
He obtained a college degree, is employed as a drug counselor, and still finds time to give back to the people through his illustrations.
From Slate ● Aug. 6, 2026
That refers to systematic strategies employed by hedge funds and other big investors automatically buying when volatility is down.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026
Along with washing our bodies, they were employed for cleaning all types of objects.
From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler
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.
