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\ ˈwāj 
\
\Definition of wage
(Entry 1 of 2)
1a : a payment usually of money for labor or services usually according to contract and on an hourly, daily, or piecework basis
—often used in plural
b wages plural : the share of the national product attributable to labor as a factor in production
2 : recompense, reward —usually used in plural but singular or plural in constructionthe wages of sin is death — Romans 6:23 (Revised Standard Version)
wage
verbwaged; waging
Definition of wage (Entry 2 of 2)
: to engage in or carry on
wage war wage a campaign
: to be in process of occurring
the riot waged for several hours — Amer. Guide Series: Md.
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Other Words from wage
Noun
wageless \ ˈwāj-ləs \ adjective
\ adjective
Examples of wage in a Sentence
Noun
Both of them make decent wages.
The table and chairs cost two weeks' wages.
The company offers competitive wages and good benefits.
The company gave workers a four percent wage increase this year. Verb
They waged a guerrilla war against the government.
Local activists are waging a campaign to end homelessness in the region.
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Recent Examples on the Web: Noun When Maduro last raised the wage to 150,000 bolivars in October, a month of work could buy about 4 kg (9 lbs) of beef, but the new hike can’t even buy 1 kg due to inflation’s effect on consumer prices, according to Bloomberg.
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Max De Haldevang, Quartz, "Venezuela just hiked its minimum wage 67% but a month of work still cant buy 1 kg of beef," 11 Jan. 2020 The average weekly wage of $973 was about 2.9% higher than in 2017.
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Jackie Borchardt, Cincinnati.com, "Donald Trump in Toledo: Fact-checking claims about tanks, cars and Ohio's 'best' economic year," 10 Jan. 2020 New research suggests that lifting the baseline wage could also stop thousands of Americans from killing themselves.
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Aimee Picchi, CBS News, "Could raising the minimum wage prevent thousands of suicides?," 10 Jan. 2020 Social Security says that in 2018, about two-thirds of all wage earners took in less than $50,000, the average wage.
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Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, "Column: 1,200 Americans already paid their 2020 Social Security tax. You’ll be paying all year," 2 Jan. 2020 The Colorado Restaurant Association even threatened to sue the city if Denver moved forward with a proposal that would increase the hourly wage to $15.87 in 2021.
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Josie Sexton, The Know, "The biggest Denver food news of 2019," 30 Dec. 2019 That way, the recipients can pay the caregivers the higher wage and still stay within the budgets that were calculated based on the Medicaid rate.
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Andy Davis, Arkansas Online, "Wage law pares caregivers' pay," 22 Dec. 2019 Between 2008 and 2018, the median annual wage in the state rose 26.4%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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Aldo Svaldi, The Denver Post, "Competitive salary ranked most important for Colorado workers as inflation continues," 19 Dec. 2019 In 2019, employment grew 0.4% while the average annual wage grew 2.8%.
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Stephen Singer, courant.com, "Report: High-wage jobs continue to leave Connecticut, pressuring state tax revenue," 5 Dec. 2019 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb Volcker was appointed to wage war on inflation, not negotiate with it.
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David Beckworth, National Review, "Paul Volcker’s Noble War on Inflation," 16 Dec. 2019 After a series of betrayals, Stone will wage war on the cartel, with the help of some of his old mobster friends.
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Bill Goodykoontz, azcentral, "How bad can one movie be? ‘El Coyote’ is in the running to be the worst film of the year," 2 Oct. 2019 The two teams could wage a season-long battle to win the Pacific.
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Ross Mckeon, SFChronicle.com, "NHL preview: Team-by-team analysis, predictions," 27 Sep. 2019 Such attacks on German cities and towns were designed to ruin the country’s morale and affect their ability to wage war, but they were also carried out as revenge for the bombing of Guernica, Warsaw, Rotterdam, London and Coventry by the Luftwaffe.
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C.g. | Berlin And Kaliningrad, The Economist, "Commemorating the devastation of Königsberg," 29 Aug. 2019 And unlike governors before Jerry Brown, Newsom doesn’t need to wage summer-long budget brawls with the Legislature.
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George Skelton, The Mercury News, "Skelton: Jury is still out on Newsom’s performance as governor," 20 Sep. 2019 But after 40 years of cash and materiel shortages, the regime has learned how to wage imperialism on the cheap.
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Reuel Marc Gerecht, WSJ, "Tehran Counts on a Divided West," 12 Dec. 2018 Tilly argues that the state developed in response to the need to provide defense, and that as military technology improved, war became more expensive and states had to develop the fiscal capacity to wage it.
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Joshua R. Hendrickson, National Review, "An Oversimplified, Misleading Argument about Inequality and Taxes," 20 Nov. 2019 With federal officials and telecom experts left scrambling for a solution, some people have tried to wage their own private war against spam calls.
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Washington Post, "Suspicious robocalls pitching health insurance surged in October. Now, the feds are scrambling to act.," 19 Nov. 2019
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'wage.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for wage
wage
nounEnglish Language Learners Definition of wage
(Entry 1 of 2)
: an amount of money that a worker is paid based on the number of hours, days, etc., that are worked
wage
verbEnglish Language Learners Definition of wage (Entry 2 of 2)
: to start and continue (a war, battle, etc.) in order to get or achieve something
See the full definition for wage in the English Language Learners Dictionary
wage
noun\ ˈwāj \
\Kids Definition of wage
(Entry 1 of 2)
: payment for work done especially when figured by the hour or day
wage
verbwaged; waging
Kids Definition of wage (Entry 2 of 2)
: to engage in : carry on
The new police chief vowed to wage a fight against crime.
wage
nounLegal Definition of wage
1 : a payment usually of money for labor or services usually according to a contract and on an hourly, daily, or piecework basis
—often used in pl.
2 plural : the share of the national product attributable to labor as a factor in production
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Time Traveler for wage
The first known use of wage was in the 14th century
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