minimum wage

noun

1

: living wage

2

: the lowest wage paid or permitted to be paid

specifically : a wage fixed by legal authority or by contract as the least that may be paid either to employed persons generally or to a particular category of employed persons

Examples of minimum wage in a Sentence

Congress will vote on a bill to raise the minimum wage.

Recent Examples on the Web

However, there was a quick move by the government, with an agreement to raise the minimum wage by 35 percent for the area. —Mayu Saini, Footwear News, 17 Apr. 2026

But the supposedly populist initiative, Eyal Press writes, is unlikely to stop establishments from paying servers below the minimum wage. —Caroline Mimbs Nyce, New Yorker, 17 Apr. 2026

In a similar fight last year, lawmakers debated whether to cut tipped workers’ minimum wages to help shore up the restaurant industry. —Seth Klamann, Denver Post, 17 Apr. 2026

If tipped workers' wages and tips do not add up to the full minimum wage, employers must make up the difference. —Sabrina Franza, CBS News, 15 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1860, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for minimum wage

• alienage
• age
• gauge
• phage
• plage
• rage
• stage
• assuage
• backstage
• bocage
• downstage
• engage

Kids Definition

minimum wage

noun

: a wage fixed (as by law) as the least that may be paid to employed persons

Legal Definition

minimum wage

noun

: a wage fixed by contract or especially by law as the least that may be paid either to employees generally or to a particular category of employees compare scale