worker

noun

ˈwər-kər How to pronounce worker (audio)
Definition of workernext
1
as in laborer
a person who does very hard or dull work a champion of the rights of the farm workers who pick the nation's fruits and vegetables

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in employee
one who works for another for wages or a salary a factory owner who is known for his fair and generous treatment of his workers

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of worker The order is opposed by unions representing state workers, who argue employees will foot the cost of Newsom’s mandate, through expenses like gas and parking. — Corey Schmidt, Sacbee.com, 4 Aug. 2026 Today, his campaign website lays out a series of left-leaning policies like affordable health care, workers’ rights, and protecting LGBTQ and immigrant communities. — Josh Crutchmer, Rolling Stone, 4 Aug. 2026 Another reason there was such a healthy music scene in Detroit was the surfeit of clubs supported by the wages of black workers employed by the city’s auto industry. — Ian Penman, Harpers Magazine, 4 Aug. 2026 The New York investment bank plans to open this 800,000-square-foot campus in 2028, with space to eventually employ more than 5,000 local workers. — Maria Aspan, NPR, 4 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for worker
Recent Examples of Synonyms for worker
  1. laborer
  2. employee
  3. slave
Noun
  • Trump also got into trouble for hiring more than two hundred undocumented Polish laborers to handle the demolition.
    — Kai Bird, New Yorker, 3 Aug. 2026
  • Both are built by laborers, but opposing a pipeline amounts to stopping the creation of a few thousand jobs.
    — David Weigel, semafor.com, 31 July 2026
Definition of laborer
Noun
  • The order is opposed by unions representing state workers, who argue employees will foot the cost of Newsom’s mandate, through expenses like gas and parking.
    — Corey Schmidt, Sacbee.com, 4 Aug. 2026
  • That’s the Dollar General employee turned tryout football player turned military student turned statistical anomaly in him.
    — Nate Atkins, New York Times, 4 Aug. 2026
Definition of employee
Noun
  • The black slaves from Guinea and Angola have demanded to be well treated, threatening to refuse to have children.
    — Kari Traylor, JSTOR Daily, 29 July 2026
  • In the mid-nineteenth century, the abolitionist Henrietta Bowers Duterte operated an Underground Railroad stop in her Philadelphia funeral home, hiding fugitive slaves in coffins.
    — John Semley, Harpers Magazine, 28 July 2026
Definition of slave

Phrases Containing worker

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worked up
worker
workers
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Cite this Entry

“Worker.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/worker. Accessed 6 Aug. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on worker

Nglish: Translation of worker for Spanish Speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about worker

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