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hire

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noun

Synonym Chooser

How is the word hire different from other verbs like it?

Some common synonyms of hire are charter, lease, let, and rent. While all these words mean "to engage or grant for use at a price," hire and let, strictly speaking, are complementary terms, hire implying the act of engaging or taking for use and let the granting of use.

we hired a car for the summer
decided to let the cottage to a young couple

In what contexts can charter take the place of hire?

The synonyms charter and hire are sometimes interchangeable, but charter applies to the hiring or letting of a vehicle usually for exclusive use.

charter a bus to go to the game

When can lease be used instead of hire?

The words lease and hire can be used in similar contexts, but lease strictly implies a letting under the terms of a contract but is often applied to hiring on a lease.

the diplomat leased an apartment for a year

When is it sensible to use rent instead of hire?

Although the words rent and hire have much in common, rent stresses the payment of money for the full use of property and may imply either hiring or letting.

instead of buying a house, they decided to rent
will not rent to families with children

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of hire
Verb
His death was officially ruled a suicide by hanging, but Epstein's brother Mark hired renowned forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden to observe the official autopsy. Michael Ruiz, FOXNews.com, 12 July 2025 Better yet, hire local eco-guides who are knowledgeable about the land and invested in protecting it. Dianne Plummer, Forbes.com, 12 July 2025
Noun
However, that report also showed that private employers only account for 74,000 of those jobs, with the rest of hires coming from state and local governments. Matthew Medsger, Boston Herald, 7 July 2025 The village manager, Thomas Phelan, will be tasked with appointing internal hires to those positions, according to the change. Olivia Stevens, Chicago Tribune, 6 July 2025 See All Example Sentences for hire
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hire
Verb
  • Owners rent their villas in weekly blocks, with rates ranging from $393 per night (Great House Villas) to $7,663 per night for stand-alone villas.
    Paula Conway, Forbes.com, 15 July 2025
  • But if a real estate investment isn’t in the cards at the moment, settle for the next best thing by renting one of the many villas currently listed on Airbnb.
    Nicole Kliest, Vogue, 14 July 2025
Verb
  • She had been employed at a Belleville assisted living facility.
    Amanda Castro Hannah Parry, MSNBC Newsweek, 15 July 2025
  • University policy allows the Office of Institutional Equity to close investigations when a subject is no longer employed there.
    Grace Gilson, Sun Sentinel, 15 July 2025
Noun
  • Robust absorption: The city continues to attract new tenants, benefiting from higher office utilization rates and faster office employment growth than most other metros.
    Preston Fore, Fortune, 10 July 2025
  • Honoring schedule flexibility is a true employment benefit and morale booster.
    Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 10 July 2025
Noun
  • On the other hand, the club also intends to bring salaries and fees down to a more sustainable level.
    Manuel Veth, Forbes.com, 14 July 2025
  • Raise salaries, diminish contractual obligations to teach, include the expenses of laboratory instruction and add the depreciation of expensive buildings — all factors in the sciences — and tuition becomes wholly inadequate to cover even the cost of instruction.
    Clifford Ando, Chicago Tribune, 14 July 2025
Verb
  • And Musk ‒ despised by many on the left and now seemingly a Trump foe ‒ would need to recruit candidates to a party that lacks a clear agenda.
    Joey Garrison, USA Today, 9 July 2025
  • Colorado College under Kris Mayotte has smartly recruited mid-round picks who were top players for their CHL teams, but are maybe not marquee names.
    Scott Wheeler, New York Times, 9 July 2025
Noun
  • This begs a clear question of training providers, employers, and governments: What if your workforce investment strategy was judged not by how many people enrolled, but by how many got hired with better wages after completing it?
    Jason Wingard, Forbes.com, 9 July 2025
  • Automation is responsible for at least half of the nation’s growing wage gap over the past 40 years, according to one economist.
    Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 8 July 2025
Verb
  • Nobody complains about the way the health care industry forces us to pay high prices for low-quality service.
    Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 8 July 2025
  • Tax revenues generated by the project are paying for the millions in infrastructure repair.
    Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 8 July 2025
Noun
  • More detail is also expected on payments made during production and whether any money fell into the hands of Hamas.
    Jake Kanter, Deadline, 12 July 2025
  • More: Car buyers set a record with more than $1,000-a-month car payments in Q2 Jamie L. LaReau is the senior autos writer who covers Ford Motor Co. for the Detroit Free Press.
    Jamie L. LaReau, Freep.com, 12 July 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Hire.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hire. Accessed 21 Jul. 2025.

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