employed

[ em-ploid ]
See synonyms for employed on Thesaurus.com
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.

  1. kept busy or engaged with some work or activity: I never feel usefully employed in science except when I'm actually gathering data.

  2. (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.

Origin of employed

1
First recorded in 1560–70; employ + -ed2 for the adjective senses; employ + -ed1 for the verb sense

Other words from employed

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use employed in a sentence

  • Each turbine in a penstock represents the power of 5,000 horses, and there are now ten or more employed.

    Inventions in the Century | William Henry Doolittle
  • I should like to see leeboards more employed in this country.

    Yachting Vol. 1 | Various.
  • In the observations of chemistry the senses are still more employed, and experiment is of still more utility.

  • The test of my courage was once more employed to cover me with humiliation and remorse.

    Arthur Mervyn | Charles Brockden Brown
  • Why are not night attacks more employed to-day, at least on a grand scale?

    Battle Studies | Charles-Jean-Jacques-Joseph Ardant du Picq