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

That process is how Florida got its $15 minimum wage, medical marijuana and felon voter rights restoration. —Romy Ellenbogen, Sun Sentinel, 22 Jan. 2025

Florence Kelley was a social reformer who campaigned against child labor and for a minimum wage. —Sara Georgini, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Jan. 2025

The state currently has a minimum wage of $15 per hour for public school employees. —Rebecca Noel, Charlotte Observer, 15 Jan. 2025

But while the hikes are a result of successful ballot measures to raise state wage floors, the federal minimum wage remains at $7.25 an hour and has not increased since 2009. —Maria Gracia Santillana Linares, Forbes, 14 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