laborer
Americannoun
-
laborers
plural
-
a person engaged in work that requires bodily strength rather than skill or training.
a laborer in the field.
-
any worker.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of laborer
Middle English word dating back to 1275–1325; see origin at labor, -er 1
Explanation
A laborer is a worker, especially a person who does some kind of physical work. A stone mason is a laborer, but you probably wouldn't call a poet a laborer. In the old days, the word laborer implied an unskilled or menial worker, like a day laborer on a farm who might be hired at an hourly rate to haul rocks out of a field, or a street paver's assistant. Today, a laborer is thought of as someone who works with her hands, often outside. Laborer comes from labor, in Old French "work, exertion, or task," from the Latin laborem, "toil, exertion, or fatigue."
Vocabulary lists containing laborer
The Industrial Revolution - Introductory
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The Industrial Revolution - Middle School and High School
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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:
After returning to Bradford-on-Avon, Byfield initially supported himself as a farm laborer.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 7, 2026
His father, Charles, had expanded the New Jersey real estate development business his grandfather, a Polish Holocaust survivor, had begun after starting out as a construction laborer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026
Written by Jimmy Webb and released in 1968, it tells the lonely story of a laborer in Kansas who imagines the voice of the woman who got away humming down the endless telephone wires.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
According to tradition, Caedmon worked as a laborer at Whitby Abbey in North Yorkshire.
From Science Daily ● May 17, 2026
If not, he would stay on as a laborer until Bri and Julie were taken care of.
From "The Dead and the Gone" by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Daniel Barbou, an 84-year-old grape picker, joined a small army of laborers in the scramble to harvest.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
The lives of servants and laborers can be difficult to reconstruct.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
Home Depot parking lots have been informal job sites for day laborers for decades, many of whom are immigrants and show up every morning seeking work.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026
The impact of immigration enforcement varied among the assembled day laborers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026
The mob included craftsmen and laborers, salesmen and tradesmen, mothers and schoolchildren.
From "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" by Claire Hartfield
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.
