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

The new minimum wage will go live on December 27, 2026 and take effect on the first paycheck in 2027, which is January 14, according to the health system. — Staff Report, Hartford Courant, 26 Sep. 2026

The most effective adaptation, by his reckoning, is ensuring that workers earn enough to protect themselves beyond the factory gates—a need highlighted by continuing protests over what many say is a woefully inadequate minimum wage. — Jasmin Malik Chua, Footwear News, 23 Sep. 2026

Efforts to raise Texas’ minimum wage to at least $15 an hour were filed during the 2025 legislative session, but none became law, and state law also limits what cities and counties can require private employers to pay. — Tiffani Jackson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 23 Sep. 2026

Another factor into the low score was that localities cannot set the minimum wage above the state standard. — Rashad Alexander, Kansas City Star, 22 Sep. 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