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

In the series, a young man buried in debt takes a part-time job paying 50 times the minimum wage, at a staffing agency where every shift could kill him. — Ophélie Surcouf, Variety, 10 Oct. 2026

Bottoms called for raising the minimum wage for state employees and creating a path to free technical and community college. — Christopher Harris, CBS News, 8 Oct. 2026

Continue reading … -- POLITICS PRICE OF PROGRESS — States set to trigger fresh minimum wage hikes with pay floors more than double federal rate. — FOXNews.com, 6 Oct. 2026

Why has the minimum wage not been raised since 2007, despite Democrats achieving a federal trifecta? — Mary Ramsey, Charlotte Observer, 6 Oct. 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