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laborer

laborer

68 1.0
A person who does hard physical work without special skills, often on building sites
  • noun
  • /ˈleɪbərər/
  • US
translation icon : peón
  • Robert found work as a laborer on a construction site, doing heavy lifting and manual tasks.
  • day laborer
  • unskilled laborer
  • manual laborer

Then you became a construction laborer roofing.

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Examples

  • Eventually, Robert got a job as a farm laborer, just as he had hoped to.

    Academic text (2011)
  • The postwar period saw an unprecedented campaign by laborers throughout America to improve their working conditions.

    Academic text (2008)
  • Then you became a construction laborer roofing.

  • "Know anyone who needs a laborer?" he asked of a man loading barrels into a cart.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • Who were the laborers in all these main mills?

  • China will contribute many thousands of labourers working for the Allies in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

  • In the rural areas, the poor farmers and landless laborers also experience a decline in income.

    Academic text (1990)
  • Most of their fathers came to the United States and worked as manual laborers or blue-collar workers.

    Academic text (2011)
  • At dusk, I would go with him to watch the laborers working on Asphodel Hill.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • There were no community work parties in this canal, just paid laborers from Cusco, Puno, and the North.

    Academic text (2008)

Synonyms

worker
vslaborer
600 1.0

A person employed to do physical or routine jobs

is narrower, restricting to hard unskilled outdoor or factory physical work
working person
vslaborer
49 2.8

A person who does manual or factory work for pay, not a manager

is the specific idea of hard unskilled physical tasks rather than employment status
49 1.7

A person who builds and fixes buildings, roads and other large structures at work sites

is broader, covering hard unskilled work in many settings not only sites
factory worker
vslaborer
23 1.3

A person who works in a factory doing physical work on machines and assembly lines

is more general, including outdoor and site work beyond factories
workman
vslaborer
13 1.4

A person who does physical jobs like building or fixing things

is a neutral term for hard unskilled physical work used for any gender
manual laborer
vslaborer
  • US
1 3.0

A person who does hard work using their hands

is hard unskilled physical work not limited to hand-focused tasks
laborist
vslaborer
  • Archaic
9.9

A person who does physical work with their hands

is the common modern label for hard unskilled physical work

Antonyms

401 3.7

A person who has special training and works in a skilled job

A person with special training for a specific job

Compounds

11 3.5

A person who is paid each day to do manual work

1 3.0

A person who does hard work using their hands

A person who works on a farm doing manual tasks like planting and harvesting

How Skilled

specialist
352 3.9
craftsperson
1 3.9
laborer
  • US
68 1.0

Surface Forms

laborer singular
laborers plural
labourers plural
labourer singular

Morphology

laborer = labor (transparent) = labor + er

The word is a straightforward agent noun formed from 'labor' plus '-er', meaning a person who labors.

Etymology

The word laborer comes from the root labor, which means 'work' or 'hard effort', plus the ending -er that means 'one who'. So a laborer is literally 'one who works', often used for people doing hard, physical jobs like building or factory work.