Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
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


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.

See Examples For:

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

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

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

From Time Magazine Archive

Any alternative to being a wage slave or a slave driver—or a slave owner.

From Susan Lenox: Her Fall and Rise by David Graham Phillips

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

Get a word


Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Look it up. Learn it forever.

Remember new words for good with VocabTrainer. Expand your vocabulary effortlessly with personalized learning tools that adapt to your goals.

Take me to Vocabulary.com