hireling
noun
hire·ling
ˈhī(-ə)r-liŋ 
: a person who serves for hire especially for purely mercenary motives
Examples of hireling in a Sentence
She's one of the political hirelings who run the candidate's campaign.
demanded to speak to the store's owner and not one of his hirelings
Recent Examples on the Web
To pretend otherwise in the year 2024 is all-but to out oneself as a hireling.
—
Charles C. W. Cooke, National Review, 12 Feb. 2024
Who are those hirelings, paid for by foreign intelligence services?!
—The Editors, Foreign Affairs, 4 June 2011
For all the bombast about Trump as a potential Putin hireling, so assiduously hyped by the media and congressional Democrats, Mueller’s actual charges mainly involved false statements made to FBI investigators, often about comparatively trivial matters.
—Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review, 15 Feb. 2022
No refuge could save the hireling and slave.
—Vanessa Etienne, PEOPLE.com, 30 June 2021
Neither should some assistant DA hireling be allowed to forgo appropriate punishment under state law.
—Star Tribune, 8 Dec. 2020
Like Sade, Epstein had hirelings to procure his victims.
—Mitchell Abidor, The New York Review of Books, 12 Feb. 2020
Not since Carson Palmer has one of Mike Brown’s hirelings had the emperor in such a headlock.
—Paul Daugherty, Cincinnati.com, 2 Jan. 2018
This dangerous idea is being pushed by Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater, a U.S. contracting firm whose private security hirelings famously shot up civilians in Baghdad.
—Trudy Rubin, Philly.com, 18 Aug. 2017
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Charles C. W. Cooke, National Review, 12 Feb. 2024
Who are those hirelings, paid for by foreign intelligence services?!
—The Editors, Foreign Affairs, 4 June 2011
For all the bombast about Trump as a potential Putin hireling, so assiduously hyped by the media and congressional Democrats, Mueller’s actual charges mainly involved false statements made to FBI investigators, often about comparatively trivial matters.
—Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review, 15 Feb. 2022
No refuge could save the hireling and slave.
—Vanessa Etienne, PEOPLE.com, 30 June 2021
Neither should some assistant DA hireling be allowed to forgo appropriate punishment under state law.
—Star Tribune, 8 Dec. 2020
Like Sade, Epstein had hirelings to procure his victims.
—Mitchell Abidor, The New York Review of Books, 12 Feb. 2020
Not since Carson Palmer has one of Mike Brown’s hirelings had the emperor in such a headlock.
—Paul Daugherty, Cincinnati.com, 2 Jan. 2018
This dangerous idea is being pushed by Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater, a U.S. contracting firm whose private security hirelings famously shot up civilians in Baghdad.
—Trudy Rubin, Philly.com, 18 Aug. 2017
Cite this Entry
“Hireling.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hireling. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
hireling
noun
hire·ling
ˈhī(ə)r-liŋ
: a person who works for wages and usually for no other reason
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