wage earner

See more synonyms for wage earner on Thesaurus.com

noun

a person who works for wages, especially a laborer.

Origin of wage earner

First recorded in 1880–85

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for wage earner

breadwinner, employee, jobholder, staffer, wageworker

Examples from the Web for wage earner

Historical Examples of wage earner

He is obliged to offer himself as a wage-earner or a tenant.
The Journal of Negro History, Volume 2, 1917
Various
At the age of fifteen Charles embarked again on his career as a wage-earner.
Victorian Worthies
George Henry Blore
For the wage-earner cannot live without his wage, and the wage was not forthcoming.
The Conquest of Bread
Peter Kropotkin
She liked the personal independence which was accorded her as a wage-earner.
Song of the Lark
Willa Cather
But a new force had come into American politics—the wage-earner.
Races and Immigrants in America
John R. Commons

British Dictionary definitions for wage earner

wage earner

US wage worker

noun

a person who works for wages, esp as distinguished from one paid a salary
the person who earns money to support a household by working

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012