Synonyms for employ
Definitions
- v. 1
To use (someone or something) for a job or task.
The burglar employed a jemmy to get in.
- v. 2
To make busy; to preoccupy.
- v. 3
To retain (someone) as an employee.
Our company employs hundreds of people.
Related words
- Word family
- employed employer employment
- Is a kind of
- choose select
Forms
- Past participle
- employed
e.g. employed → used, utilized, applied, spent…
Choose the right word
In this connection employ is a word of more dignity than hire; a general is employed in his country's service; a mercenary adventurer is hired to fight a tyrant's battles.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- spend Some families spend their vacation near the beach.
- apply I didn't apply for the job that Tom told me about.
- utilize We had better utilize our natural resources.
- wield Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it.
By length
- 3 letters
- use1, ply1
- 4 letters
- take1, turn1, busy2, hire2
- 5 letters
- spend1, apply2, brook1, exert2, wield1
- 6 letters
- handle2, engage2, occupy3, enlist2, bestow2, expend2
- 7 letters
- consume2, utilize3, exploit2, appoint2, utilise, engross2
- 8 letters
- practice2, exercise3, practise2
- 10 letters
- commission3
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (busy2 = 2 syllables).