Meaning & use
employ
To give someone paid work, or to make use of a particular method, tool, or skill.
See it in a sentence
The factory employs over three hundred workers across two shifts.
The negotiators employed a calm, patient strategy to reach an agreement.
A note on using this word
Employ means "to hire" when its object is a person, or "to use" when its object is a method, tool, or tactic.
Words with a similar meaning
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Words with an opposite meaning
Another way to use it
2. noun
Formal term for the state of being hired to work for someone, as in "in the employ of."
For ten years, she remained in the employ of the same law firm.
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