labourer
/'leibərə/
Definition
- Noun:
- A person who performs physical work, especially of an unskilled or manual nature: A labourer is someone whose primary job involves physical effort, often using their hands and body, typically in industries like construction, agriculture, or manufacturing. The work is often characterized by requiring strength and endurance rather than specialized training or education.
Usage
- The term "labourer" specifically refers to a worker engaged in manual or physical tasks. It is a standard, formal term for such occupations.
- It is commonly used in economic, social, and employment contexts to distinguish between types of work (e.g., manual labour vs. intellectual labour).
- The spelling "labourer" is standard in British English; the American English spelling is "laborer".
Examples
- Noun:
- The construction site employed dozens of labourers to dig foundations and move materials.
- Agricultural labourers worked long hours in the fields during the harvest season.
Advanced Usage
- "Casual labourer": A worker hired for temporary or day-to-day work, often without a long-term contract.
- He worked as a casual labourer, finding work on different docks each week.
- "General labourer": A worker who performs a variety of basic manual tasks, not specialized in one trade.
- The company was looking to hire a general labourer for warehouse duties.
Variants and Related Words
- Laborer (noun): The American English spelling of "labourer".
- Labour (noun/verb): The work done by labourers; the act of working physically.
- Manual labour is demanding.
- Labour-intensive (adjective): Describing work or an industry that requires a large amount of manual labour.
- Farming is a labour-intensive occupation.
Synonyms
- Worker: A general term for a person who works.
- Manual worker: Explicitly specifies physical work.
- Blue-collar worker: A social/economic classification for manual industrial workers.
- Hand: (Informal) A person employed to do physical work, e.g., .
Antonyms
- Professional: A person engaged in a specialized, typically white-collar occupation.
- Intellectual: A person whose work primarily involves thinking and mental effort.
Related Phrases
- Skilled labourer: A manual worker who has acquired specific skills or training for a trade (e.g., carpenter, electrician). This contrasts with an unskilled or general labourer.
- The project required both skilled labourers and general helpers.
- Day labourer: A labourer hired and paid on a daily basis.
- The men gathered at the corner each morning, hoping to be hired as day labourers.
Noun
-
someone who works with their hands; someone engaged in manual labor
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