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

One reason the minimum wage didn’t kill jobs is because wages were never set by some natural equilibrating force to begin with. —Nick Hanauer, The Atlantic, 22 May 2026

In many cases, though, federal law limits wage garnishment to the lesser of 25% of your disposable earnings or the amount exceeding 30 times the federal minimum wage. —Angelica Leicht, CBS News, 20 May 2026

Those provisions included immigration reform and raising the minimum wage, among others. —Ramsey Touchberry, The Washington Examiner, 20 May 2026

In Tehran, where the minimum wage sits just above 200 million rials a month, the daily struggle for basic sustenance has become a catalyst for revolt. —Liram Koblentz-Stenzler, Chicago Tribune, 11 May 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