worker
Americannoun
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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.
Department of Agriculture funded study, worker bumblebees were exposed to low doses of the pesticide before researchers examined changes in their gene expression.
From Science Daily • Jul. 10, 2026
"He was not simply an aid worker in a humanitarian committee," wrote activist Mohammed Hmeid, who documented al-Wahidi's work.
From BBC • Jul. 9, 2026
Ordinarily the supervisory board's 20 members are split evenly between worker and shareholder representatives.
From Barron's • Jul. 9, 2026
McKinsey also estimated that losing a front-line retail employee costs an average of $10,000 per worker.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 8, 2026
“I’m so impressed with the work you’re doing that with your permission, I’d like to show it to the judge at your hearing,” the social worker continued.
From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman
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.
