employment
Americannoun
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employments
plural
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an act or instance of employing someone or something.
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the state of being employed; employ; service.
to begin or terminate employment.
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an occupation by which a person earns a living; work; business.
- Synonyms:
- profession, trade, job, calling, vocation
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the total number of people gainfully employed or working.
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an activity or the like that occupies a person's time.
She found knitting a comforting employment for her idle hours.
noun
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the act of employing or state of being employed
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the work or occupation in which a person is employed
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the purpose for which something is used
Usage
What does employment mean? Employment most generally means the state of having a paid job—of being employed. To employ someone is to pay them to work. An employer provides employment to employees. Employment can also refer to the act of employing people, as in We’re working to increase our employment of women. Or it can refer to a person’s work or how they earn a living, as in What does he do for employment?In the context of economics, employment is commonly used to mean the total number of people employed, such as in a country, as in Employment is up this quarter, with thousands of new jobs having been created. The opposite of this is unemployment—the total number of people who are unemployed (who do not have a job). Unemployment also commonly means the state of being unemployed. Employ can also be used as a synonym of the verb use, and employment can be employed as a synonym of the noun use, as in The employment of artificial intelligence creates many ethical concerns. Example:In this economy, finding consistent employment is a challenge for many workers.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of employment
Explanation
Employment is your occupation or the fact that you have a job. If you are looking for employment, you might start by attending a job fair — if you make a good impression, you might get hired immediately. If you have employment, it means you have a job. You can also use the noun employment to talk about exactly what that job involves, like your employment in the entertainment industry or in the carnival business. Employment also refers to the act of giving someone a job. The Latin root is the word implicare, meaning "enfold, involve, or be connected with."
Vocabulary lists containing employment
Labor Day Lexicon: Words That Put You To Work
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American History II
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Talk Like Shakespeare Day, List 3
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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.
See Examples For:
“The upshot is that despite potential signs of a pickup in employment growth, the labor market won’t be a source of inflationary pressure this year,” said economist Matthew Martin of Oxford Economics.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026
In 2024, jobs related to the visitor economy made up approximately 20% of employment in Cornwall.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
In some cases, Warren warned, the ban could effectively prevent agencies from publishing certain highly detailed data, such as local employment figures for specific industries.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
The July employment report, due out Friday, is expected to reinforce the “low-hire, low-fire” nature of the labor market.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026
This is because all Orgota are employees of the state; the state must find employment for all citizens, and does so.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
This lack of key inflation and employments reports is sure to complicate the Fed’s decision at its Dec. 9-10 meeting.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 21, 2025
Landry, who previously had a career in law enforcement, said that police departments in the state are experiencing record-low employments “resulting in increased crime and less public safety.”
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 16, 2024
"We have the last throw of the dice in order to bring back some part of that industry, if we don't then we have to look for alternative employments for the 820,000 people."
From BBC ● Mar. 30, 2023
"That is very unusual. Like many employments that are still unfilled, FAA administrator is an extremely important position," Captain Ross "Rusty" Aimer told Salon last week, before Trump had finally filled the position.
From Salon ● Mar. 21, 2019
The conditions of life, the employments of human beings, are far different now from those of the time when men "lived in houses of osier."
From A Review of the Systems of Ethics Founded on the Theory of Evolution by Williams, C. M.
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.
