worker
Americannoun
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workers
plural
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a person or thing that works.
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a laborer or employee.
steel workers.
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a person engaged in a particular field, activity, or cause.
a worker in psychological research; a worker for the Republican Party.
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Entomology.
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a member of a caste of sexually underdeveloped, nonreproductive bees, specialized to collect food and maintain the hive.
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a similar member of a specialized caste of ants, termites, or wasps.
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Printing. one of a set of electrotyped plates used to print from (contrasted with molder).
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any of several rollers covered with card clothing that work in combination with the stripper rollers and the cylinder in the carding of fibers.
noun
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a person or thing that works, usually at a specific job
a good worker
a research worker
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an employee in an organization, as opposed to an employer or manager
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a manual labourer or other employee working in a manufacturing or other industry
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any other member of the working class
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a sterile female member of a colony of bees, ants, or wasps that forages for food, cares for the larvae, etc
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of worker
First recorded in 1300–50, worker is from the Middle English word werker, worcher. See work, -er 1
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:
Former NFL tight end Dennis Pitta, an assistant coach with the Tritons, said, “He’s as hard of a worker and as good as an athlete you could ask for.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
Office worker Vilborg Inga Magnusdottir said she saw no reason to change the status quo.
From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026
Each worker will also receive 15 treasury shares and other welfare benefits under the agreement.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
The report, co-authored by social worker Clare Chamberlain and commissioned by the Department for Education, found 18 appeared to be a significant turning point.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
She started to get up, but the social worker gestured for her to stay put.
From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman
Khurram Mehmood, 40, told AFP news agency there was a long wait for rescue workers.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
Earlier in August, 32 petrochemical workers in Bandar-e Mahshahr, a city on the Persian Gulf coast, publicly protested their dismissals, according to ILNA.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
Parton could have limited her tracks to farmers, coal miners, swing shifters, assembly line workers and other laborers whom country music constantly lionizes, and no one would have complained.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
South Korea officials confirmed eight hydropower workers were out of contact in the Rasuwa district following the floods.
From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026
In a few weeks, the last of the tourists would be gone, along with a lot of the tour guides and workers who only came to town for polar bear season.
From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz
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.
