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definitions

wage slave

See more synonyms for wage slave on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a person who works for a wage, especially with total and immediate dependency on the income derived from such labor.

Origin of wage slave

First recorded in 1885–90
Related formswage slavery, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for wage slave

breadwinner, employee, jobholder, staffer, wageworker

Examples from the Web for wage slave

Historical Examples of wage slave

  • Luckily he was a subordinate, not a wage-slave but a follower—which was a restraint.

    Victory

    Joseph Conrad

  • I was as faithful a wage-slave as ever a capitalist exploited.

  • Nature does not intend for one man to have capital and another to be a wage-slave.

  • Slave and slave-owner, serf and baron, wage-slave and capitalist—so the classes have struggled.

  • The wage-slave lives for the evening's liberty, the business man for his wealth, the preacher for his church.

    Over Prairie Trails

    Frederick Philip Grove

British Dictionary definitions for wage slave

wage slave

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