day job

noun

: one's regular employment as contrasted with an occasional, secondary, or coveted job

Examples of day job in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Meanwhile, his highlights lived on YouTube and his day job was working an eight-hour shift at a local tax store — and eventually a warehouse company. — Kansas City Star, 13 Aug. 2026 Aronow largely runs operations out of her Brooklyn apartment, in between her day job leading the internship program and working as an adjunct professor at her alma mater, the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. — Selena Fragassi, SPIN, 10 Aug. 2026 The most stubborn holdout was a recycling plant inside the Fairview fire, where crews kept water aimed at the site in what officials called a two- to three-day job. — Mary Gilbert, CNN Money, 8 Aug. 2026 The over-all technical director, Oscar Lopez, whose day job entails managing events at Resorts World, hustled crews carefully among setups and sites. — Paige Williams, New Yorker, 3 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for day job

Word History

First Known Use

1971, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of day job was in 1971

Rhymes for day job

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Browse Nearby Words

day jessamine
day job
day labor
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Day job.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/day%20job. Accessed 14 Aug. 2026.

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