employ
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employ¹
- /ɪmˈplɔɪ/
- /ɛmˈplɔɪ/
Rhymes with -ɔɪ
Where it comes from
From late Middle English emploien, imploien, emplien (“to apply to a specific purpose”), from Anglo-Norman emploier, Old French emploiier (“to entangle, fabricate, to make use of”), ultimately from Latin implicāre (“to infold, entangle, involve, engage”), from in- (“in”) + plicāre (“to fold”). Doublet of imply and implicate.
verb employs · employing · employed · imploy
- To retain (someone) as an employee. Our company employs hundreds of people.
- To provide (someone) with a new job; to hire. Yesterday our local garage employed a new mechanic.
- To use (someone or something) for a job or task. The burglar employed a jemmy to get in.
- To make busy; to preoccupy. Let it not enter in your minde of loue: / Be merry, and imploy your chiefeſt thoughts / To courtſhip, and ſuch faire oſtents of loue / As ſhall conueniently become you there;
Similar: apply, appoint, bestow, brook, commission, commit, employ, exercise, exploit, handle, make use, ply, put to use, spend, suborn, take advantage of, use, utilize, wield · Opposite: discard, disuse, shun, surrender
employ²
- /ɪmˈplɔɪ/
- /ɛmˈplɔɪ/
Rhymes with -ɔɪ
Where it comes from
Borrowed from French emploi (“job, employment”), the deverbal from employer (“to put to use, to employ”), first attested in the late 17th century.
noun employs · imploy
- The state of being an employee; employment. The school district has six thousand teachers in its employ.
- An occupation. Still he wrote on. He was too much engrossed in his own charmed employ not to be insensible for a time to all external influences: he might suffer afterwards, but now his mind was his kingdom.
- The act of employing someone or making use of something; employment. Notwithstanding the employ of general and local bleeding, blisters, &c., the patient died on the fourth day after entrance.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: employment, hire, use, utilize, apply, utilise, engage, hiring, work, job, recruiting, recruitment, employee, spend, appoint, appointment
Translations
Every language
verb to give someone work
| Español | emplear |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 고용하다 goyonghada |
| 日本語 | 雇う yatou, 雇用する koyō-suru |
| 中文 | 雇傭 gùyōng, 雇 gù |
| हिन्दी | नियुक्त करना niyukt karnā, इस्तेमाल करना istemāl karnā |
| Kiswahili | -ajiri |
| Português | contratar |
| Français | employer, embaucher, recruter |
| Deutsch | einstellen, anstellen, anwerben |
| Italiano | impiegare, ingaggiare |
| Ελληνικά | απασχολώ apascholó |
| Română | angaja |
| Русский | нанима́ть nanimátʹ, наня́ть nanjátʹ, трудоустра́ивать trudoustráivatʹ, трудоустро́ить trudoustróitʹ |
| Tiếng Việt | dùng, mướn |
| العربية | وَظَّفَ waẓẓafa |
verb to put into use
| Español | emplear |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 使う tsukau, 使用する siyō-suru |
| Português | empregar |
| Français | employer, utiliser |
| Deutsch | einsetzen, benutzen, verwenden |
| Italiano | impiegare |
| Ελληνικά | χρησιμοποιώ chrisimopoió |
| Română | angaja |
| Русский | испо́льзовать ispólʹzovatʹ, употребля́ть upotrebljátʹ |
| Tiếng Việt | dùng |
Talk about this word "employ." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/employ. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. employ. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/employ "employ." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/employ.Cite this
@misc{employ_2026,
title = {employ},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/employ},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
