EMPLOYED

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does employed mean? 

• EMPLOYED (adjective)
  The adjective EMPLOYED has 2 senses:

1. having your services engaged for; or having a job especially one that pays wages or a salary

2. put to use

  Familiarity information: EMPLOYED used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EMPLOYED (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having your services engaged for; or having a job especially one that pays wages or a salary

Context example:

most of our graduates are employed

Similar:

engaged (having services contracted for)

hired (having services engaged for a fee)

on the job; working (actively engaged in paid work)

Also:

busy (actively or fully engaged or occupied)

Antonym:

unemployed (not engaged in a gainful occupation)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Put to use

Synonyms:

employed; utilised; utilized

Similar:

used (employed in accomplishing something)

 Context examples 

If you are self-employed, you may be sending the government estimated taxes, for example.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

He could not go back to his own home, so he went to a strange village, and employed himself in keeping sheep.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

An ingredient commonly found in toothpaste could be employed as an anti-malarial drug against strains of malaria parasite that have grown resistant to one of the currently-used drugs.

(Toothpaste ingredient may help fight drug-resistant malaria, University of Cambridge)

They asked me a good many questions; as, what my name was, how old I was, where I lived, how I was employed, and how I came there.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

This study employed "real world" conditions, he said, and showed for the first time that chronic short sleep shuts down programs involved in immune response of circulating white blood cells.

(Chronic Sleep Deprivation Suppresses Immune System, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

A person employed in an office who performs various tasks such as keeping records or accounts, filing, letter writing, or transcribing.

(Clerk, NCI Thesaurus)

The Admiralty, he continued, entertain themselves now and then, with sending a few hundred men to sea, in a ship not fit to be employed.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

His role varies from country to country, but he is usually employed by a government agency.

(Community Physician, NCI Thesaurus)

Nonetheless, the researchers are also quick to point out that certain styles of humour may be employed to conceal negative intentions and feelings.

(Self-defeating humour promotes psychological well-being, University of Granada)

She had not much time for repining, however, for the three young girls were busily employed in 'having a good time'.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)