noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of trainee
Explanation
If you're a trainee, you're being taught to do a new job. If you're hired at your local grocery store, you'll likely spend some time as a trainee before you're allowed to work the cash register on your own. Whenever someone goes through training, especially for a new job or skill, they can be called a trainee. If you're learning a new computer coding language, you might be a Python or Java trainee. And if you're in your first week at a coffee shop job, you're probably still a barista trainee. Trainee dates back to the mid-19th century, from the verb train, "instruct."
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:
She eventually landed a gig as a management trainee at the city administrative officer’s office, writing a 2015 report on how Los Angeles was dealing with a burgeoning homeless crisis.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026
But he continued acting and took a job as a trainee reporter at the local newspaper, where his assignments included writing short obituaries, which wore him down.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
Aaliyah, now a trainee solicitor, spent years trying to source information from local authorities and eventually made an official data access request to Bradford Council, which removed her from her biological family as a baby.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
Through the scheme, which the Treasury says will roll out across England from March 2027, local teams plan to match young people with employers, including small businesses that have never taken on a trainee.
From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026
There was a symmetry in this, as R-and-W had been the place where I’d spent my first, awful day as a Sing Sing trainee more than eight months before.
From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover
The report recommended minimum wage rates for year one and two trainees remained at £10.50 and £11.75 per hour respectively for one more year from 1 April.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
In the coming months, trainees will be able to learn blasting and painting with virtual-reality equipment sent from South Korea—which lowers costs and exposure to hazardous fumes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2026
Others counted to 43 several times to honor each of the trainees from the rural teachers' college who disappeared on September 26, 2014.
From Barron's ● Sep. 27, 2026
Scientists and trainees from several other institutions also collaborated on portions of the work.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 25, 2026
Young Marine trainees line up to have their hair shorn at training camp in Parris Island, South Carolina, 1971.
From "Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam" by Elizabeth Partridge
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
