white-collar

adjective

white-col·​lar ˈ(h)wīt-ˈkä-lər 

: of, relating to, or constituting the class of salaried employees whose duties do not call for the wearing of work clothes or protective clothing compare blue-collar

Examples of white-collar in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But professional and business services, a sprawling sector that includes lawyers, architects and other white-collar workers, added just 3,000 jobs. —Paul Davidson, USA Today, 4 Apr. 2025

Automating Mundane Data Tasks In 2025, many white-collar roles, including data and analytics professionals, will have an AI teammate. —Artyom Keydunov, Forbes.com, 3 Apr. 2025

Professional services: Demand dipped for financial, scientific and technical smarts — usually high-paying white-collar work. —Jonathan Lansner, Oc Register, 3 Apr. 2025

As more white-collar employers require their staff to be in the office full-time again, workers have the right to demand something in exchange: a return to the norms of the 1990s, before smartphones made everyone instantly reachable. —Chris Moody, The Atlantic, 2 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1911, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for white-collar

• eurodollar
• caller
• collar
• crawler
• dollar
• faller
• haller
• hauler
• holler
• scholar
• smaller
• squalor

Kids Definition

white-collar

adjective

ˈhwīt-ˈkäl-ər,

ˈwīt-

: of, relating to, or being a member of the class of workers (as clerks and salespersons) whose duties do not require the wearing of work clothes