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

Soto-Martínez said his biggest accomplishments include raising the minimum wage to $30 for tourism workers, updating the rent stabilization ordinance for the first time in 40 years and growing his district’s rapid response network to combat federal immigration raids. —Melissa Gomez, Los Angeles Times, 1 May 2026

Indeed, a coalition of activists were using his invitation to speak to Congress to launch a campaign for a federal minimum wage of at least $25. —The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 30 Apr. 2026

Costs continue to rise, while incomes, even in states that have adjusted minimum wage guidelines, increasingly fail to bring households out of poverty. —Jennifer C. Greenfield, The Conversation, 29 Apr. 2026

The candidates also highlighted a desire to change tax laws and minimum wage to fight the affordability crisis. —Irene Wright, USA Today, 28 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1860, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for minimum wage

• alienage
• age
• gauge
• phage
• plage
• rage
• stage
• assuage
• backstage
• bocage
• downstage
• engage

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