wage

[weyj]

noun

1. Often wages. money that is paid or received for work or services, as by the hour, day, or week.

   Synonyms: remuneration, compensation, emolument, earnings

2. Economics.,  Usually wages. the share of the products of industry received by labor for its work (as distinct from the share going to capital).

3. (used with a singular or plural verb),  Usually wages. recompense or return.

   The wages of sin is death.

4. Obsolete.,  a pledge or security.

verb (used with object)

waged, waging 

1. to carry on (a battle, war, conflict, argument, etc.).

   to wage war against a nation.

   Synonyms: prosecute, undertake

2. Chiefly British Dialect.,  to hire.

3. Obsolete.

   1. to stake or wager.

   2. to pledge.

verb (used without object)

waged, waging 

1. Obsolete.,  to contend; struggle.

wage

/ weɪdʒ /

noun

1. 1. (often plural) payment in return for work or services, esp that made to workmen on a daily, hourly, weekly, or piece-work basis Compare salary

   2. ( as modifier )

      wage freeze

2. (plural) economics the portion of the national income accruing to labour as earned income, as contrasted with the unearned income accruing to capital in the form of rent, interest, and dividends

3. (often plural) recompense, return, or yield

4. an obsolete word for pledge

verb

1. to engage in

2. obsolete,  to pledge or wager

3. archaic,  another word for hire hire

Other Word Forms

• wageless adjective
• wagelessness noun
• underwage noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of wage¹

First recorded in 1275–1325; (noun) Middle English: “pledge, security,” from Anglo-French; Old French guage gage ¹, from unattested Vulgar Latin wadium, from Germanic ( wed ); (verb) Middle English wagen “to pledge,” from Anglo-French wagier; Old French guagier, from unattested Vulgar Latin wadiāre, derivative of wadium

Word History and Origins

Origin of wage¹

C14: from Old Northern French wagier to pledge, from wage, of Germanic origin; compare Old English weddian to pledge, _wed

Synonym Study

See pay ¹.

Example Sentences

"Only 10% of the ticket sales stay in the region. The rest of the money goes to the Ministry of Culture to look after other archaeological sites around Peru and pay for wages."

Read more on BBC

According to the Treasury £140bn was spent on support for businesses, much of it going to pay people's wages when they were forced to stay at home.

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The expansion has transformed the local economy, attracting suppliers, raising wages, and leading to infrastructure and service developments.

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Some in the business community will interpret this as possibly heralding another higher-than-inflation rise in the national living wage, which also tends to push up other salaries in a firm's wage structure.

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Real incomes fell behind when inflation shot up, then recovered as inflation receded and wages caught up.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal