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Synonyms

wage slave

American  

noun

  1. a person who works for a wage, especially with total and immediate dependency on the income derived from such labor.

wage slave British  

noun

  1. ironic a person dependent on a wage or salary

"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

Other Word Forms

  • wage slavery noun

Etymology

Origin of wage slave

First recorded in 1885–90

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.

Just think, if only I had used that money to purchase Apple stock on the installment plan I'd be rich today instead of a wage slave.

From Slate • Mar. 18, 2011

As an ordinary wage slave, I find the drop in the nation's production no mystery.

From Time Magazine Archive

He is not the dirt farmer or wage slave of the past, but the civil servant.

From Time Magazine Archive

With quiet poignance, with gay and gentle humor, with gradual but ultimately pulverizing irony, the director investigates the well-known social process that begins with a free soul and ends with a wage slave.

From Time Magazine Archive

The wage slave is honored with the privilege of slavery only so long as he can work ten hours a day.

From The Man in Gray by Dixon, Thomas

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.