white-collar

American  

[hwahyt-kol-er, wahyt-] / ˈʰwaɪtˈkɒl ər, ˈwaɪt- /

adjective

1. belonging or pertaining to the ranks of office and professional workers whose jobs generally do not involve manual labor or the wearing of a uniform or work clothes.

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noun

1. a white-collar worker.

white-collar British  

adjective

1. of, relating to, or designating nonmanual and usually salaried workers employed in professional and clerical occupations Compare blue-collar pink-collar

   white-collar union

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white-collar Cultural  

1. A descriptive term for office workers, who use a minimum of physical exertion, as opposed to blue-collar laborers. Managerial, clerical, and sales jobs are common white-collar occupations.

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Etymology

Origin of white-collar

First recorded in 1920–25

Compare meaning

How does white-collar compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• blue-collar vs. white-collar

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

white-collar

Some unions representing white-collar workers, on the other hand, are less supportive of the data-center construction.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

Predictions that AI would kill half of all white-collar jobs or create a permanent class of unemployed welfare dependents were always far-fetched.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

To date, mass AI-fueled layoffs among white-collar workers has yet to happen, which leads Schickling to believe “we remain closer to the ATM phase than the mobile banking phase.”

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026

He’s got one foot on the so-called safe path — college, white-collar isolation — and the other on a career that’s already covering him in well-earned scars.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

It might seem ludicrous to address as large and intractable a problem as white-collar crime through the life of a bagel man.

From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt

Related Words

• clerical
• salaried