: a unit of one hour's work by one person that is used especially as a basis for cost accounting and wages

Examples of man-hour in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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The company has played up its efforts to design the e.MAS 7 for local tastes, claiming that R&D engineers spent over 700,000 man-hours developing the latest model, which then underwent 100,000 kilometers of testing across Malaysia’s terrain. Eleanor Pringle, Fortune Asia, 20 Dec. 2024 But divine and Quranic laws cannot be changed and must ultimately be implemented; in this regard, the parliament has worked on the hijab law for about 7,000 man-hours and scientific and cultural figures and experts have been invited. Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 16 Dec. 2024 On the West Coast, longshoremen accrue additional compensation based on man-hour assessments. Lori Ann Larocco, CNBC, 4 Sep. 2024 Instead, work will simply become easier and more streamlined, saving man-hours while making staff more efficient and sustainable. Bj Schaknowski, Fortune, 6 May 2024 So many man-hours went into this incredible artistic craftsmanship of building this set, building this world. Christian Holub, EW.com, 22 Mar. 2024 These games included highly detailed scenarios, limited rules built by and adjudicated by a staff of experts (some sources claim that each scenario involved more than 1,000 man-hours to create) and played by senior decision-makers from across the federal government. Jacquelyn Schneider, Foreign Affairs, 26 Dec. 2023 Millions of dollars and hundreds of Sisyphean man-hours were required to preserve the illusion of calm, untouched beauty in harmony with nature. Jackson Arn, The New Yorker, 13 Nov. 2023 That means taxpayers could be on the hook for billions of dollars in wages for millions of man-hours not worked. Elizabeth Robinson, NBC News, 29 Sep. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1912, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of man-hour was in 1912

Dictionary Entries Near man-hour

Cite this Entry

“Man-hour.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/man-hour. Accessed 10 Jan. 2025.

Kids Definition

man-hour

noun
ˈman-ˈau̇(-ə)r
: a unit of one hour's work by one worker used especially as a basis for wages and in accounting
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