wage

noun

\ 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 construction the wages of sin is death — Romans 6:23 (Revised Standard Version)

wage

verb

waged; waging

Definition of wage (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

: to engage in or carry on wage war wage a campaign

intransitive verb

: to be in process of occurring the riot waged for several hours — Amer. Guide Series: Md.

Other Words from wage Synonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about wage

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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.

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

Amazon’s 2018 report card could have sounded like this: Amazon raised wages, released some cool products, and announced plans to move into a struggling city in need of attention — an easy A. — Jacob Kastrenakes, The Verge, "The Verge 2018 tech report card: Amazon," 27 Dec. 2018 Higher wages and better protections for childcare workers and teachers would be nice too. — Laura Turner, Glamour, "The Big Problem With the New Screen Time Guidelines for Kids," 26 Apr. 2019 The Bureau of Labor Statistics hasn’t formally defined what a gig worker is, which makes wages, hours, and harassment or other workplace complaints difficult to track. — Emma Goldberg, Glamour, "A Penny for Her Thoughts? Women in the Gig Economy Struggle to Get Paid," 16 Apr. 2019 After offering $10,000 to $25,000 per season to players in Year 1, the NWHL scaled back to a $100,000 yearly salary cap and wages reported by news sources at between $2,500 and $10,000. — Geoff Baker, The Seattle Times, "NHL franchise in hand, the push to bring women’s professional hockey to Seattle begins in earnest," 16 Apr. 2019 These gendered expectations are intimately tied to the wage gap. — Chloe Foussianes, Town & Country, "Why Prince Harry Should Take an Extended Paternity Leave," 5 Apr. 2019 In 1963, President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act to abolish wage disparity based on gender. — Emily Farra, Vogue, "21 Reasons to Wear Red for Equal Pay Day," 2 Apr. 2019 Women also tended to suffer a greater wage penalty for taking time out of the labor force. — Anna North, Vox, "You’ve heard that women make 80 cents to men’s dollar. It’s much worse than that.," 2 Apr. 2019 Over the same period, wages for most Americans remained stagnant. — Chuck Thompson, Popular Mechanics, "The State of American Trade Schools," 13 Mar. 2019

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

Players pick a team, build an army, and wage war across a sci-fi landscape. — Joshua Sokol, The Atlantic, "AI Keeps Mastering Games, But Can It Win in the Real World?," 27 Feb. 2018 The leader of the chamber's Democrats fired back, demanding that McConnell apologize to Ford for his assertion that Democrats are using the allegations to wage a smear campaign against the nominee. — Andrew O'reilly, Fox News, "Trump echoes Limbaugh warning to GOP to approve Kavanaugh or face midterm fury," 25 Sep. 2018 The officials said Russia continues to wage a campaign to disrupt American democracy ahead of the 2018 midterms, though those operations are not yet on the scale seen in the 2016 election. — Jen Kirby, Vox, "Top officials are warning of Russian hacking. Trump hasn’t joined them.," 3 Aug. 2018 Chinese, North Korean and Russian leaders realized that cyber tools allowed them to wage asymmetrical attacks. — Mara Hvistendahl, WSJ, "‘Dawn of the Code War’ Review: The Cyber Threat Reconsidered," 3 Dec. 2018 The quagmire has deepened of late, with the Taliban continuing to wage attacks on Afghan and allied troops. — Jen Kirby, Vox, "Trump will reportedly remove 7,000 troops from Afghanistan," 21 Dec. 2018 Though severely weakened, Islamic State continues to wage an insurgency from remote hide-outs in Iraq, complicating efforts to reach and excavate some graves. — Isabel Coles, WSJ, "Syria Unearths ISIS Mass Graves Near Iraqi Border," 13 Dec. 2018 Without the ability to file for bankruptcy, people can lose paycheck money to wage garnishment orders, cutting into already tight budgets, said Latife Neu, a bankruptcy lawyer. — Peter Nicholas, WSJ, "Tax Refunds Will Be Paid During Shutdown, White House Says," 7 Jan. 2019 Warfare, whether real or fictional, is really about the individuals who wage it, and ultimately, that's what Hunter Killer gets right. — Alex Hollings, Popular Mechanics, "What 'Hunter Killer' Gets Right About Submarine Warfare," 7 Nov. 2018

These 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.