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

Lawmakers in the past have taken actions against cities, such as preventing them from setting their own minimum wage and overturning some Boise rental protections. —Idaho Statesman, 7 May 2026

To tow the car five miles and hold it at a towing site cost $430, which if someone is earning only the minimum wage is a lot of money. —Jemma Stephenson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 May 2026

The new push, proposed by multiple members of Congress, is asking for the minimum wage to be raised to $25 nationwide. —Amethyst Martinez, USA Today, 4 May 2026

The union’s leadership has been furious with Park, who voted against a hike in the minimum wage for tourism workers to $30 per hour. —Los Angeles Times, 2 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