sweatshop

American  

[swet-shop] / ˈswɛtˌʃɒp /

noun

sweatshops plural

1. a shop, small factory, or other workplace employing workers at low wages, for long hours, and under poor conditions.

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sweatshop British  

/ ˈswɛtˌʃɒp /

noun

1. a workshop where employees work long hours under bad conditions for low wages

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sweatshop Cultural  

1. A small factory or shop in which employees are poorly paid and work under adverse conditions. Sweatshops were especially common in the garment industry during the early twentieth century.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• sweatshops
  plural

Etymology

Origin of sweatshop

First recorded in 1865–70; sweat + shop

Explanation

A sweatshop is a factory where workers are exploited and not allowed to unionize. You might not sweat in a sweatshop, but you probably work hard and under lousy conditions. In a sweatshop, workers slave away in poor conditions for low pay. Sweatshop workers — who often make clothing — aren't allowed to form unions, so they cannot protest their poor working conditions. In repressive countries that aren't looking out for their citizens, you're more likely to find sweatshops. An American corporation that uses sweatshops overseas could find itself in a lot of trouble.

Example Sentences

The fashion-magazine moment is long gone as Miranda deals with such alarming new trends as budget cuts, the imperative to cram her vision into annoying little video clips, and consumer sensitivity to sweatshop manufacturing.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 29, 2026

A Hong Kong content creator dressed head to toe in Tod's, 26-year-old Stephanie Hui, said people were "desensitised" to stories of sweatshop conditions in the fashion industry, with consumers feeling powerless to effect change.

From Barron's • Feb. 27, 2026

They lived for a while in Harlem while his mother worked in a sweatshop and got by with the help of food stamps.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 15, 2024

Rainmaker Hall is the central meeting space, created inside an old hangar that was once a sweatshop with high, arching beams.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 26, 2023

From upstairs wafted the smell of fresh paint; from downstairs, the site of the lone toilet, came the sounds of a sweatshop.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

Related Words

• branch
• cooperative
• firm
• industry
• laboratory
• mill
• shop
• workshop