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

New federal legislation targets $25 minimum wage. — Betty Lin-Fisher, USA Today, 26 June 2026

They are generally paid minimum wage, and any infraction or exam failure can mean an immediate withdrawal of one’s conditional employment offer, the former trainees interviewed said. — Emma Hurt, AJC.com, 25 June 2026

Fazio, who voted against a higher minimum wage and other key labor bills, said his absence did not reflect an unwillingness to listen to labor. — Mark Pazniokas, Hartford Courant, 25 June 2026

Still, the districts do not pay them for that work, the part-timers say, and allege that their pay amounts to lower than minimum wage compensation for all the hours worked. — Tarini Mehta, Sacbee.com, 24 June 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