sweatshop

American  

[swet-shop] / ˈswɛtˌʃɒp /

noun

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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Etymology

Origin of sweatshop

First recorded in 1865–70; sweat + shop

Example Sentences

Zookeepers “may as well live and die surrounded by animals than in a sweatshop or war zone, right?”

From Los Angeles Times

Franklin Roosevelt aptly referred to it as “this ancient atrocity” in 1933, when he signed a textile industry code that outlawed the employment of children younger than 16 in sweatshops.

From Los Angeles Times

“Yuletide Factory,” a circus show at the New Victory Theater, splits the difference, locating its cheer inside a sweatshop churning out seasonal doodads.

From New York Times

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

In Hong Kong, Mr Lai worked in a garment sweatshop and taught himself English.

From BBC

Related Words

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