hire
Americanverb (used with object)
noun
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the act of hiring.
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the state or condition of being hired.
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the price or compensation paid or contracted to be paid for the temporary use of something or for personal services or labor; pay.
The laborer is worthy of his hire.
- Synonyms:
- remuneration, salary, wages, stipend, rental
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Informal. a person hired or to be hired.
Most of our new hires are college-educated.
adjective
verb phrase
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hire out to offer or exchange one's services for payment.
He hired himself out as a handyman.
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hire on to obtain employment; take a job.
They hired on as wranglers with the rodeo.
idioms
verb
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to acquire the temporary use of (a thing) or the services of (a person) in exchange for payment
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to employ (a person) for wages
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(often foll by out) to provide (something) or the services of (oneself or others) for an agreed payment, usually for an agreed period
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to pay independent contractors for (work to be done)
noun
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the act of hiring or the state of being hired
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( as modifier )
a hire car
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the price paid or payable for a person's services or the temporary use of something
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( as modifier )
the hire charge
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available for service or temporary use in exchange for payment
Synonym Usage
Hire, charter, rent refer to paying money for the use of something. Hire is a general word, most commonly applied to paying money for labor or services, but is also used in reference to paying for the temporary use of automobiles (usually with a chauffeur), halls, etc.; in New England, it is used in speaking of borrowing money on which interest is to be paid (to distinguish from borrowing from a friend, who would not accept any interest): to hire a gardener, a delivery truck, a hall for a convention. Charter formerly meant to pay for the use of a vessel, but is now applied with increasing frequency to leasing any conveyance for the use of a group: to charter a boat, a bus, a plane. Rent is used in the latter sense, also, but is usually applied to paying a set sum once or at regular intervals for the use of a dwelling, room, personal effects, an automobile (which one drives oneself ), etc.: to rent a business building.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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hiresimple
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hiressimple
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have hiredperfect
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has hiredperfect
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am hiringprogressive
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are hiringprogressive
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is hiringprogressive
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have been hiringperfect progressive
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has been hiringperfect progressive
Past
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hiredsimple
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had hiredperfect
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was hiringprogressive
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were hiringprogressive
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had been hiringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of hire
First recorded before 1000; (verb) Middle English hiren, Old English hȳrian (cognate with Dutch huren, Low German hüren, Old Frisian hēra ); (noun) Middle English; Old English hȳr; cognate with Dutch huur, Low German hüre (whence Dutch hyre, Swedish hyra, German Heuer ), Frisian hēre
Explanation
When you hire someone, you invite them to work for you or the company you represent. If you manage your local ice cream shop, it might be part of your job to hire extra ice cream scoopers for the busy summer season. Your boss at the animal shelter might hire you immediately if she's desperate for help — or if you impress her as a true animal lover. Once she does, she can call you "a new hire," or a recently hired employee. It's less common in the U.S. than in Britain, but you can also say you hire a car when you rent or lease one. Hire comes from the Old English hyr, which means both "wages" and "interest."
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 company has a mantra, taught to every new hire: If anyone is going to disrupt a sector we compete in, it better be us.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 22, 2026
“They get to decide who can hang out and at what hours on the street. They can hire security on bikes and cars that patrol and enforce and harass.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 20, 2026
He actually wanted to figure out who, aside from a relative, he could hire to act as executor of his estate and to have durable power of attorney should he become incapacitated.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 20, 2026
Lee’s hire aims to strengthen Intel’s chip-packaging expertise, including EMIB-T, for its Foundry business.
From Barron's • Jun. 19, 2026
“It’s on the other side of the county. There aren’t enough Muslim kids out here to carpool or hire a bus. I guess my parents got tired of driving me every morning.”
From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan
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.
