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

Its sponsorship history has mirrored NASCAR’s shifting eras: from beer to insurance to broadband, as the sport moved from blue-collar roots toward corporate polish and eventually into the digital age. —Greg Engle, Forbes.com, 18 Aug. 2025

In frequent media interviews touting Trump’s candidacy, Collins pointed to the once-thriving factory sector in his western New York district, where generations of blue-collar workers earned middle-class wages and were able to support families. —David Mark, The Washington Examiner, 15 Aug. 2025

These films have always carried rich undercurrents: the corporate exploitation of blue-collar workers (the Nostromo crew, the marines in Aliens, the kids of Romulus), queered reproduction via body horror, Ripley’s evolving incarnations of motherhood, human hubris punished by its own creations. —Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 12 Aug. 2025

Wrestling has long been a family business, and most wrestlers are part-timers working additional jobs – often in blue-collar, union positions. —Brian Jansen, The Conversation, 7 Aug. 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