unionize
Americanverb (used with object)
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unionizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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unionized,
past participle, past
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unionizing
present participle
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to organize into a labor union; bring into or incorporate in a labor union.
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to subject to the rules of a labor union.
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Obsolete. to form into a union.
verb (used without object)
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unionizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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unionized,
past participle, past
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unionizing
present participle
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to join in a labor union.
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Obsolete. to form a union.
verb
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to organize (workers) into a trade union
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to join or cause to join a trade union
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(tr) to subject to the rules or codes of a trade union
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to join or become joined in marriage or civil partnership
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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unionizesimple
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unionizessimple
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have unionizedperfect
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has unionizedperfect
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am unionizingprogressive
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are unionizingprogressive
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is unionizingprogressive
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have been unionizingperfect progressive
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has been unionizingperfect progressive
Past
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unionizedsimple
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had unionizedperfect
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was unionizingprogressive
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were unionizingprogressive
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had been unionizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of unionize
Explanation
To unionize is to form a group of workers that has more power to negotiate with an employer. Fast food employees might unionize so they can bargain for higher wages and safer working conditions. When workers unionize, they vote to join a union, or a collective bargaining group. Sometimes belonging to a union is easy: most public school teachers, police officers, and other municipal employees automatically join existing unions when they're hired. In non-union jobs, however, like waiting tables or delivering food, employees who want to unionize have to convince a majority of their coworkers to vote in favor of the move.
Vocabulary lists containing unionize
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:
The National Labor Relations Act doesn’t allow sub- and independent contractors to unionize.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
Athletes.org, a nonprofit organization that advocates for college athletes’ rights, opposes the bill and continues to push for athletes to be allowed to unionize.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026
With claims to intellectual property becoming more complex and difficult to prove in the digital age, sex workers seeking to unionize say the stakes of their efforts are higher than ever.
From Salon ● Mar. 23, 2026
In 2023, the union successfully pushed California Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign a “card-check” law that makes it easier to unionize farmworkers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 19, 2026
Lately, my mother and father sometimes talked in low voices about the attempts to unionize the plant.
From "Kira-Kira" by Cynthia Kadohata
GM is likely to be the next company to settle because it has agreed to pull new electric vehicle battery factories into the UAW’s national contract, which essentially unionizes them.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 26, 2023
A simple majority of valid ballots submitted by Amazon workers will determine if the upstate-New York facility unionizes.
From Reuters ● Oct. 18, 2022
Keisha Renaud, 50, an associate from East Orange, New Jersey, said she would leave the facility if it unionizes.
From Reuters ● Mar. 25, 2022
Apple Store employees hope that once the first store successfully unionizes, others will fall like dominoes.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 18, 2022
And if Northwestern unionizes, soon Florida will unionize.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 12, 2014
Flying Food Group workers have been unionized since 2016.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
These days most workers at colleges, from grad students to dining hall cooks, are unionized.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
The downbeat earnings come as Hyundai’s unionized auto workers in South Korea are staging partial walkouts for a second straight week to demand higher wages, doubling strike hours to four per shift this week.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
If Musk fails, he only earns his $54,080 salary, or about half of what unionized hotel housekeepers make in Manhattan.
From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026
For the next eighteen years, C.P. worked full-time as an organizer for the IUOE, traveling throughout the state and rolling up an impressive record of victories for unionized workers.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
Uber and Lyft drivers in California are a step closer to unionizing after state regulators confirmed the budding union had gained enough support to be certified.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2026
It realized a long-sought goal in unionizing a foreign automaker: a Volkswagen factory in Tennessee.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
The effort is led by Starbucks Workers United, which describes itself as “a worker-led unionizing effort run by people who are also working regularly scheduled shifts.”
From Barron's ● Nov. 13, 2025
Drivers are pushing back and taking steps toward unionizing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2025
Track officials viewed any effort to create funds for injured riders as unionizing, and they were ready to ban any jockey who took steps in that direction.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
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.
