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

Dov Yoran, chief executive of AI cyber firm Command Zero, said that unlike most white-collar jobs—where jobs are cut when automation takes over—cybersecurity threats aren’t fixed and constantly require new software and platforms.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026

Anthropic's boss, Dario Amodei, has come under fire for saying AI technology could wipe out half of entry-level white-collar jobs and will "test who we are as a species".

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026

Jensen proposes a machine-labor token tax to offset white-collar job disruption and fund safety oversight.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026

Any Black person with a job — especially white-collar professionals — had that gospel drilled into them by their parents long before the high-achieving Shonda Rhimes immortalized it in her show.

From Salon ● Aug. 31, 2026

Despite all the attention paid to rogue companies like Enron, academics know very little about the practicalities of white-collar crime.

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

Related Words

• clerical
• salaried