Showing results for "employed"

• past participle of employ.
• past tense form of employ.

employed

American  

[em-ploid] / ɛmˈplɔɪd /

adjective

1. 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.

2. applied or used; made use of.

   In the study, drilling with flashcards was the least frequently employed strategy for language learning.

3. kept busy or engaged with some work or activity.

   I never feel usefully employed in science except when I'm actually gathering data.

4. (of time, energies, etc.) occupied; devoted to some pursuit.

   Working on my quilt gave me many happily employed hours.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of employ.

Other Word Forms

• de-employed
  adjective
• well-employed
  adjective

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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

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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

See Examples For:

employed

For much of that time, the evidence remained uncertain because studies produced inconsistent findings and employed different experimental methods.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 20, 2026

The conversations about Issa Rae’s trajectory from YouTube to HBO and Tyler Perry keeping many Black actors employed, though consistently coming up against criticism over the quality of his work, both come to mind.

From Salon ● Oct. 19, 2026

He has a degree in computer engineering, and his wife has a master’s degree in engineering and is also well employed.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 15, 2026

During a "counter-summit" held a few days before Wednesday's gathering, he pointed out that the centres only employed 3,300 people in total.

From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026

“I fugo? Does he think we employed him to steal us blind, Maxwell?”

From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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Related Words

• engaged
• hired
• occupied

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