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

More than 40% of employers are currently restructuring and automating, or planning to automate roles, according to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025, and white-collar jobs are no exception. —Rachel Wells, Forbes.com, 9 July 2025

The biggest beneficiaries will be higher-earning, white-collar workers at large employers, according to Brookings. —Alicia Wallace, CNN Money, 8 July 2025

Those that did tended to go into what became white-collar jobs. —Amy Lindgren, Twin Cities, 5 July 2025

In addition, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei told Axios in May that AI could eliminate half of all entry-level white-collar jobs, sending the unemployment rate as high as 20% in the next five years. —Jason Ma, Fortune, 5 July 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