blue-collar

adjective

blue-col·​lar ˈblü-ˈkä-lər 

1

: of, relating to, or constituting the class of wage earners whose duties call for the wearing of work clothes or protective clothing compare white-collar

2

: having characteristics associated with blue-collar workers: such as

a

: having, showing, or appealing to unpretentious or unsophisticated tastes

… a new blue-collar serial … woven around a minor-league baseball team …

—Steven Flax

b

: dependable and hard-working rather than showy or spectacular

a blue-collar athlete

Examples of blue-collar in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Wage growth for blue-collar workers in China has outpaced that of their white-collar peers for six consecutive years, in a sign of the country’s booming gig economy. —J.d. Capelouto, semafor.com, 7 June 2026

Sylvester Stallone rose to stardom playing blue-collar boxer Rocky Balboa. —Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 5 June 2026

With his gruff voice, beard and sweatshirts-instead-of-suits, Platner cuts the figure of a blue-collar Mainer. —Caroline McCaughey, Boston Herald, 4 June 2026

Graham Platner, the Maine Senate candidate who has become the left’s latest blue-collar savior, put the theory in its most unguarded form. —Nicholas Jacobs, The Conversation, 2 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1929, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for blue-collar

• footballer
• installer
• caller
• choler
• collar
• crawler
• dollar
• faller
• haller
• hauler
• holler
• scholar

Kids Definition

blue-collar

adjective

ˈblü-ˈkäl-ər

: of or relating to the class of workers whose duties require work clothes