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employ

v. · n.
US //ɛmˈpɫɔɪ// UK //ɛmplˈɔɪ// em·ploy
  1. 1 to give someone a job (v.)
    A2 Elementary

    to pay someone to work for you or your company.

    to retain someone as an employee in exchange for payment. Transitive — always takes the person or group as a direct object.

    Example

    The local factory employs over two hundred people from the nearby village.

    Example

    The multinational corporation employs thousands of software engineers across its European offices to maintain its cloud infrastructure.

    Usage

    Often used in the passive voice to describe a person's job status.
  2. 2 to use a method or tool (v.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate Academic

    to use something, such as a skill or a method, for a particular purpose.

    to make use of a resource, technique, or instrument to achieve a specific goal.

    Example

    The builders employed a new technique to finish the roof more quickly.

    Example

    The researchers employed a variety of statistical models to ensure the accuracy of their findings before publication.

    Usage

    Common in academic and professional writing as a more formal alternative to 'use'.
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  1. 3 to keep busy (v.)
    C1 Advanced Formal Literary

    to keep yourself busy with an activity.

    to occupy or preoccupy someone's time or attention. Often used reflexively.

    Example

    She employed herself with gardening while waiting for the news.

    Example

    He employed his time in the library, meticulously cataloguing the rare manuscripts that had been neglected for decades.
  2. 4 state of being an employee (n.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate Formal

    the state of being employed by someone.

    the state of being in someone's service or employment.

    Example

    He has been in the company's employ for nearly twenty years.

    Example

    The diplomat remained in the government's employ until his retirement, serving in several high-profile international roles.
Etymology 1

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.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from French emploi (“job, employment”), the deverbal from employer (“to put to use, to employ”), first attested in the late 17th century.

Word family
Idioms1 entry

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