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

But two of his priorities—expanding the child tax credit and raising the minimum wage—were set back by inflation. —Jason Furman, Foreign Affairs, 10 Feb. 2025

Georgia, where the state minimum wage is $5.15, maintains a minimum wage below the federal level but must adhere to the national rate for most workers. —Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Newsweek, 5 Feb. 2025

At $16, California’s minimum wage is nearly $9 higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25. —Kendrick Marshall, Sacramento Bee, 4 Feb. 2025

The intrigue: The minimum wage in North Carolina is just $7.25 — a rate that has been unchanged since 2009. —Lucille Sherman, Axios, 30 Jan. 2025

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