minimum wage

noun

1

: living wage

2

: the lowest wage paid or permitted to be paid

specifically : a wage fixed by legal authority or by contract as the least that may be paid either to employed persons generally or to a particular category of employed persons

Examples of minimum wage in a Sentence

Congress will vote on a bill to raise the minimum wage.

Recent Examples on the Web

What will the Arizona minimum wage be in 2025? In 2025, Arizona's minimum wage will be $14.70 per hour. —Reia Li, The Arizona Republic, 11 Dec. 2024

The minimum wage in Indiana is $7.25 per hour, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. —Ana Rocío Álvarez Bríñez, The Indianapolis Star, 10 Dec. 2024

Jayaraman cited Michigan, where the state Supreme Court last summer cleared the way for a minimum wage hike, from $10.33 to $12.48 to take effect in February 2025. —J.j. McCorvey, NBC News, 10 Dec. 2024

The Biden administration is working to end a statute that has allowed companies to pay their disabled employees below the minimum wage for decades. —Brooke Seipel, Fortune, 4 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1860, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

minimum wage

noun

: a wage fixed (as by law) as the least that may be paid to employed persons

Legal Definition

minimum wage

noun

: a wage fixed by contract or especially by law as the least that may be paid either to employees generally or to a particular category of employees compare scale