Employed Employ ɪmˈplɔɪ People Past Criticized Repressive Methods

• how many people does the company employ?
• for the past three years he has been employed as a firefighter.
• a number of people have been employed to deal with the backlog of work.
• he criticized the repressive methods employed by the country's government.

employ

1. to give somebody a job to do for payment
• How many people does the company employ?
• For the past three years he has been employed as a firefighter.
• A number of people have been employed to deal with the backlog of work.
2. to use something such as a skill, method, etc. for a particular purpose
• He criticized the repressive methods employed by the country's government.
• The police had to employ force to enter the building.
3. if a person or their time is employed in doing something, the person spends time doing that thing
• She was employed in making a list of all the jobs to be done.

Extra Examples

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.
• By 1960 the arms industry directly employed 3.5 million people.
• Mark is currently employed as a Professor of Linguistics.
• Self-checkout terminals are increasingly employed by retailers.
• Some teachers employ more traditional methods.
• The army has far more junior officers than it can usefully employ.
• The safety net is an image commonly employed in everyday life.
• Those not gainfully employed are dependent on their savings.
• When properly employed, non-lethal weapons will save lives.
• Will and Joe were busily employed in clearing out all the furniture.
• You’d be far better employed taking care of your own affairs.
• Your time would be better employed doing something else.
• teaching that actively employs computers in innovative and fruitful ways
• the tactics employed by the police
• He criticized the repressive methods employed by the country’s government.

Verb Forms

• present simple I / you / we / they employ
• he / she / it employs
• past simple employed
• past participle employed
• -ing form employing

Word Origin

• late Middle English (formerly also as imploy): from Old French employer, based on Latin implicari ‘be involved in or attached to’, passive form of implicare, from in- ‘in’ + plicare ‘to fold’. In the 16th and 17th cent. the word also had the senses ‘enfold, entangle’ and ‘imply’, derived directly from Latin; compare with implicate.