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

Another proposal would require the public to vote on developing major event and hotel projects, and a third would expand the $30 minimum wage to all workers. —Jaimie Ding, Chicago Tribune, 23 Jan. 2026

All 68 available team member slots are paid positions earning minimum wage, according to the city. —Nina Burns, CBS News, 20 Jan. 2026

Iowa, Pennsylvania and Texas also have their minimum wage set at the federal minimum. —Eleanor Nash, Kansas City Star, 18 Jan. 2026

An Oklahoma Watch investigation found that increasing the minimum wage could reduce Oklahoma’s eviction rates and alleviate the burden on extremely low-income renters. —Jake Ramsey, Oklahoma Watch, 17 Jan. 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