employ
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To use for a job or task.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ehmploySay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɛmpˈlɔɪ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
To retain (someone) as an employee.
To use (someone or something) for a job or task.
To make busy; to preoccupy.
noun
The state of being employed or having a job
The state of being an employee; employment.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
A person or firm that employs workers.
Having your services engaged for.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Working for yourself.
A writer or artist who sells services to different employers without a long-term contract with any of them.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
The economic condition when everyone who wishes to work at the going wage rate for their type of labor is employed.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: being employed or having a job
Antonyms
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.