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

The proposal would create three new wage enforcement fees and would hike by 68% a minimum wage enforcement fee the city created last summer. — David Garrick, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 July 2026

The deal included a 10-year moratorium on minimum wage propositions. — Los Angeles Times, 8 July 2026

American workers, especially in the private sector, have only minimum wages and minimal work protections. — Teresa Ghilarducci, Forbes.com, 8 July 2026

If that amount is less than minimum wage, then the employer must boost this to the minimum wage for the first year. — Chas Newkey-Burden, TheWeek, 6 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