minimum wage
noun
the lowest wage payable to employees in general or to designated employees as fixed by law or by union agreement.
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minimum wage
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minimum-wage
minimum-wageadjectiveof or relating to a minimum wage.
minimum wage
1 Americannoun
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minimum wages
plural
minimum-wage
2
American
[min-uh-muhm-weyj]
/ ˈmɪn ə məmˈweɪdʒ /
adjective
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of or relating to a minimum wage.
minimum-wage demands.
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paid or earning a minimum wage.
a minimum-wage worker.
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paying a minimum wage.
a minimum-wage job.
minimum wage
British
noun
minimum wage
Cultural
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of minimum wage
First recorded in 1855–60
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:
One reason is that its high minimum wage has raised costs for employers, which in turn are cutting back on unskilled labor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
As well as enforcing the minimum wage, the agency also will soon tackle practices of denying workers holiday and sick pay.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026
The union also included a proposed ballot measure that would have extended a $30 minimum wage to all workers in L.A.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026
Bass has supported delaying the minimum wage hike and expanding the short-term rental market, saying more beds will be needed for the 2028 Summer Olympics.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026
The Duke vigil ended a few days later when Wright Tisdale, chair of the Duke trustees, announced that a minimum wage of $1.60 for nonacademic staff would be phased in over the next several months.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
And teens are competing with older workers for similar jobs: People aged 25 and over accounted for 56.9% of minimum-wage workers in 2024.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 19, 2026
She was facing a demand to repay £37,000 while supporting herself through her studies in a minimum-wage job.
From BBC ● Apr. 8, 2026
Among their supporters are renters, immigrants, young adults, the underserved, and the frontline workers in the minimum-wage economy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 7, 2026
The same is true for the five other states—all in the South—that don’t have minimum-wage laws.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 6, 2026
She had lost her job—a minimum-wage post packing Styrofoam cups into cartons—when she’d gone into the hospital to have the baby, and had no money for formula.
From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng
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.
