employed

[ em-ploid ]

adjective

1. given employment, or paid work; hired, especially permanently by inclusion on a payroll:

   The comedy revolves around a beauty salon owner and her newly employed male stylist.

2. applied or used; made use of:

   In the study, drilling with flashcards was the least frequently employed strategy for language learning.

3. kept busy or engaged with some work or activity:

   I never feel usefully employed in science except when I'm actually gathering data.

4. (of time, energies, etc.) occupied; devoted to some pursuit:

   Working on my quilt gave me many happily employed hours.

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of employ.

Other Words From

• de-em·ployed adjective
• well-em·ployed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of employed¹

First recorded in 1560–70; employ ( def ) + -ed ²( def ) for the adjective senses; employ ( def ) + -ed ¹( def ) for the verb sense

Example Sentences

Hahn said her organization has partnered with the United Farm Workers union to help farmworkers employed by major farms and labor brokers under investigation by California’s workplace safety agency enroll in the program.

From Los Angeles Times

Earlier studies on mothers' breastfeeding habits yielded samples of a majority of White, non-Hispanic, well-educated, partnered, and employed respondents.

From Science Daily

The research employed a combination of field and laboratory studies, starting with quantifying pesticide residues at suitable hibernation sites for bumble bee queens on Ontario farms.

From Science Daily

According to Mr Madden and Mr Cancian, it is thought the North Korean troops are being employed around the embattled Kursk border region, which Moscow has been trying to recapture from Ukraine.

From BBC

Dr. Sasse may have been a skeptic, but the board that employed him was heavily focused on analyzing the company’s new method for scoring universities.

From New York Times

Related Words

• engaged
• hired
• occupied