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

The paper appealed to blue-collar workers and soon became a household name as journalists scooped other news outlets on stories and lawmakers referenced its articles in Parliament. —ABC News, 15 Mar. 2026

The lunchtime crowd — high schoolers, blue-collar types, the elderly — waited patiently for their orders. —Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 13 Mar. 2026

The district, a mostly blue-collar corridor from Atlanta's suburbs north to the Tennessee border, vaulted into the national spotlight after Greene swept to victory in 2020. —Rebecca Morin, USA Today, 11 Mar. 2026

From Calgary airport, a shuttle whisks me three hours to the Weber Powder hangar in Golden—a blue-collar railroad and timber town and the gateway to Kicking Horse, one of the rowdiest ski resorts in North America. —Jen Murphy, Robb Report, 8 Mar. 2026

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