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

Vocational and trade programs are booming, federal data shows, and one reason is a perception that blue-collar jobs pay well, and that college costs are becoming prohibitive. —Nicole Fallert, USA Today, 10 Nov. 2025

Set in Baltimore, the HBO original chronicles institutions on each side of the drug trade and examines how cops, drug dealers, reporters, lawyers, teachers, and blue-collar workers are all connected by the same system. —Taryn Finley, Refinery29, 7 Nov. 2025

And Trump’s 2024 gains among blue-collar minority voters were concentrated among irregular voters who are the least likely to show up for an odd-year election. —Ronald Brownstein, Mercury News, 6 Nov. 2025

Vocational schools were, after all, decidedly blue-collar. —Stephen Tave, Fortune, 5 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1929, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for blue-collar

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

Kids Definition

blue-collar

adjective

ˈblü-ˈkäl-ər

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