laborer

noun

la·​bor·​er ˈlā-bər-ər How to pronounce laborer (audio)
: one that labors
specifically : a person who does unskilled physical work for wages

Examples of laborer in a Sentence

He has been working as a laborer on a construction project. they could only find work as laborers unloading cargo ships
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
This was a very common patriotic project for volunteer laborers in late‑war Japan—especially among those either too old or too young to perform more demanding and exacting full‑time war plant work. Literary Hub, 7 Aug. 2025 However, in contrast to the vision of free yeoman workers, historians have found that most laborers who arrived on the first ships were either indentured to individual masters or bound by some other kind of contract that limited their freedom. Livia Gershon, JSTOR Daily, 7 Aug. 2025 Babita watched the laborers’ children playing astride a tunnel drainpipe, made steady by a heap of sand, as their parents worked. Kiran Desai, New Yorker, 3 Aug. 2025 This was the height of the 1832 cholera epidemic that ultimately killed at least 10,000 people in the U.S. Forty-seven laborers from the John Stamp ship joined 10 other Irish immigrant workers who were already living with Duffy in a rental house in Willistown, a mile south of the work site. William E. Watson, The Conversation, 1 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for laborer

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of laborer was in the 14th century

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Laborer.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/laborer. Accessed 22 Aug. 2025.

Kids Definition

laborer

noun
la·​bor·​er ˈlā-bər-ər How to pronounce laborer (audio)
: one that works
especially : a person who does unskilled physical work for wages

More from Merriam-Webster on laborer

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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