employee

noun

em·​ploy·​ee im-ˌplȯ(i)-ˈē How to pronounce employee (audio)
(ˌ)em-;
im-ˈplȯ(i)-ˌē How to pronounce employee (audio)
em-
variants or less commonly employe
Synonyms of employeenext
: one employed by another usually for wages or salary and in a position below the executive level

Synonyms

See All Synonyms & Antonyms in Thesaurus

Examples of employee in a Sentence

A good boss listens to his employees. The company has more than 2,000 employees worldwide.
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.
At least 119 Amtrak employees and doctors took the railroad company for a ride in a massive $12 million health fraud scheme, a watchdog found. — Louis Casiano, FOXNews.com, 9 May 2025 Imagine what message this is sending to Shopify employees and tech workers. — Theodora Lau, Forbes.com, 9 May 2025 The driver, as well as one Starbucks employee, sustained non-life-threatening injuries and were transported by paramedics to Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, Calif. — Ingrid Vasquez, People.com, 9 May 2025 All this is the painstaking work of Hazel Chatman, now in her late seventies, who’s been a public employee for forty-seven years and a caretaker of the city’s beach bathrooms for thirty. — Shauna Lyon, New Yorker, 9 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for employee

Word History

Etymology

employ entry 1 + -ee entry 1, perhaps after French employé

First Known Use

1822, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of employee was in 1822

Browse Nearby Words

employable
employee
employer
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Employee.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/employee. Accessed 16 May. 2025.

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Kids Definition

employee

noun
em·​ploy·​ee im-ˌplȯi-ˈē How to pronounce employee (audio) (ˌ)em- How to pronounce employee (audio)
im-ˈplȯi-ˌē,
em-
: one who works for another for wages or a salary

Legal Definition

employee

noun
em·​ploy·​ee
variants also employe
: a person usually below the executive level who is hired by another to perform a service especially for wages or salary and is under the other's control see also respondeat superior compare independent contractor

Note: In determining whether an individual is an employee, courts look at several factors, including the nature of the compensation paid, provision for employee benefits, whether the hired party is in business, tax treatment of the hired party, source of the equipment used, and location of the work. Statutes, such as workers' compensation acts and labor laws, usually include a definition of employee as it is used in the statute.

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