Worker Meaning
/ˈwɜː.kə/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounOne who works: a person who performs labor for a living; traditionally, especially, manual labor.
nounA nonreproductive social insect, such as ant, bee, termite, or wasp.
Sentence Examples
You're really a hard worker.
Wages vary in relation to the age of the worker.
Every worker in the factory is required to wear a hard hat.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The factory manager expects each ____ on the assembly line to report on time.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She is a very hard ____ who always goes the extra mile to ensure that the project is finished on time today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English werkere, worcher, wercher, equivalent to work + -er. Displaced the older term wright, from Old English wyrhta.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Fret not thy ſelfe becauſe of euill doers, neither bee thou enuious againſt the workers of iniquitie."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 37:1:
"Writer Ta Chen, in a statistical study of industrial labor in China in 1933, recorded that 66.6 percent of the total number of workers in the four main industrial regions of Kwangtung were women. In Shun-te, 81.2 percent of the labor force were women."
— 1986, Janice G. Raymond, A Passion for Friends: Toward a Philosophy of Female Affection, Boston: Beacon Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 124:
"Manganism has been known about since the 19th century, when miners exposed to ores containing manganese […] began to totter, slur their speech and behave like someone inebriated. The poisoning was irreversible, and soon ended in psychosis and death. Nowadays workers are exposed to far lower doses and manganism is rare."
— 2014 April 21, “Subtle effects”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8884:
"Although the radiation levels identified are high, a threat to human health is very unlikely because apart from workers at the site, no-one goes there."
— 2017 February 2, Jeff Farrell, “Fukushima nuclear disaster: Lethal levels of radiation detected in leak seven years after plant meltdown in Japan”, in The Independent, London:
"That would allow employers to keep some tip money for themselves, as long as each worker made at least the full federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour."
— 2018 March 24, Lydia DePillis, “Few noticed, but Congress just banned restaurants from skimming tips”, in CNN:
Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The factory manager expects each ____ on the assembly line to report on time.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She is a very hard ____ who always goes the extra mile to ensure that the project is finished on time today.