employer

Meaning

1. 1nouncountable

   A person or organization that pays people to work for them.

   Grammar: Refers to the side that hires, in contrast to employee: the employer pays the employee.

   Patterns

   • the employer of someone
   • work for an employer

   Her employer offered her a bonus for finishing early.

   The hospital is the largest employer in the town.

   I need a reference from my last employer.

Word forms

Common combinations

current employer

Please give the name of your current employer.

prospective employer

A prospective employer will check your references.

major employer

The car factory is a major employer in the area.

equal opportunity employer

We are an equal opportunity employer.

former employer

She stayed in touch with her former employer.

Synonyms and how they differ

boss

Boss is an informal word for the person in charge, while employer can be a whole company.

company

Company names the business but not specifically its role as the one who pays staff.

manager

Manager is someone who supervises work and may not be the one who actually hires or pays.

organization

Organization is a general term and does not point out the paying relationship.

Opposites

Word family

employ verb

to give someone paid work

employee noun

a person who is paid to work for someone

employment noun

paid work or the state of having it

unemployed adjective

without a job

employable adjective

having skills that employers want

Commonly confused: employer or employee?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “employer”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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