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laborer

laborer

69 1.0
A person who does hard physical work without special skills, often on building sites
  • noun
  • /ˈleɪbərər/
  • US
: 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
∞ 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
69 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
55 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
workman
vslaborer
33 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
factory worker
vslaborer
24 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
manual laborer
vslaborer
  • US
2 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

435 3.7

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

A person with special training for a specific job

Compounds

12 3.5

A person who is paid each day to do manual work

2 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
267 3.9
craftsperson
1 3.9
laborer
  • US
69 1.0
little helper
14 3.2

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.