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

Such costs are substantial in a country where the monthly minimum wage is about $76 and nearly 40% of the population live in poverty, according to official figures. — ABC News, 14 July 2026

In that sense, learning from the Nordics is not as simple as raising minimum wages and seeing happiness soar. — Nicholas D. Kristof, Mercury News, 14 July 2026

EuroNews reports that applicants must show proof that their annual salary is at least 50 times the country’s monthly minimum wage of 620 euros (about $709), or €31,000 (about $35,460) a year. — Brittany Chang, Condé Nast Traveler, 13 July 2026

El-Sayed ran on a Sanders-esque populist platform, including a call for single-payer health care and to raise the minimum wage to fifteen dollars an hour. — Jason Zengerle, New Yorker, 10 July 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