employment
Americannoun
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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
- nonemployment noun
- overemployment noun
- proemployment adjective
- reemployment noun
Etymology
Origin of employment
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.
