minimum wage

noun

1

: living wage

2

: the lowest wage paid or permitted to be paid

specifically : a wage fixed by legal authority or by contract as the least that may be paid either to employed persons generally or to a particular category of employed persons

Examples of minimum wage in a Sentence

Congress will vote on a bill to raise the minimum wage.

Recent Examples on the Web

Nixon's platform focuses on universal health care, the wealthy paying higher taxes, and increasing the federal minimum wage to $25 an hour, according to her campaign website. — Terry Collins, USA Today, 19 Aug. 2026

Supporting affordable healthcare, childcare and college tuition, along with stronger labor unions, higher minimum wages and a fairer tax system, are not ideas that threaten democracy. — Tom Zirpoli, Baltimore Sun, 18 Aug. 2026

There is a new effort to increase the minimum wage and training requirements for security guards in California ahead of the 2028 Olympics. — Steve Large, CBS News, 17 Aug. 2026

Around the same time, the Illinois attorney general sued the Morgans over minimum wage violations at Heights Crematory. — Gregory Royal Pratt, Chicago Tribune, 15 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1860, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for minimum wage

• alienage
• age
• gauge
• phage
• plage
• rage
• stage
• assuage
• backstage
• bocage
• downstage
• engage

Kids Definition

minimum wage

noun

: a wage fixed (as by law) as the least that may be paid to employed persons

Legal Definition

minimum wage

noun

: a wage fixed by contract or especially by law as the least that may be paid either to employees generally or to a particular category of employees compare scale