Meaning of white-collar in English

white-collar

adjective [ before noun ]

/ˌwaɪtˈkɒl.ər/ us

/ˌwaɪtˈkɑː.lɚ/

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relating to people who work in offices, doing work that needs mental rather than physical effort:

white-collar workers/unions

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blue-collar

pink-collar mainly US

See also

collar noun

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Types of employment

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Skilled, talented and able

(Definition of white-collar from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

white-collar | American Dictionary

white-collar

adjective [ not gradable ]

us/ˈhwɑɪt ˈkɑl·ər, ˈwɑɪt/

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connected with a job in an office:

These days, few white-collar workers actually wear white shirts.

(Definition of white-collar from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

white-collar | Business English

white-collar

adjective [ before noun ]

ECONOMICS

/ˌwaɪtˈkɒlər/ us

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relating to people who work in offices, doing work that needs mental rather than physical effort:

The company plans to cut 1,450 white-collar jobs as part of a restructuring.

white-collar professionals/staff/workers

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blue-collar

(Definition of white-collar from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of white-collar

white-collar

The data of the censuses will be complemented by data from selective surveys of time-budgets of blue- and white-collar workers.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

It is also a white-collar masculinity, and while 'nerds ' are marginalised, they also gain a form of power through their technical mastery.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The 'white-collar' families used force, or the threat of force, to secure closed play areas for their 'type' of child.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Bretons in this mixed-class area nonetheless included railway workers, shopkeepers and the occasional male white-collar worker.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Initial concern was expressed over school-leavers entering towns who displayed a reluctance to engage in anything other than scarce white-collar work.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

At first, economic development and its attendant white-collar majorities were themselves in short supply.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Similarly, bluecollar workers were significantly more likely than white-collar workers to have left part-time work (36.2% versus 15.5 %).

From the Cambridge English Corpus

It has modern commercial areas, and businesses of white-collar professionals.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Here we see the revolution in prototype : the same urban bias, concentrated in the same white-collar and skilled trades.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Over 19 per cent of serving seafarers' fathers were white-collar workers but only six per cent of students' fathers were in the same category.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

First, this did not seem to me to be a good example compared to other white-collar contexts like call centre employment.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The decline of trade-union membership may be one of the key reasons for declining involvement of both routine white-collar and manual workers in formal associations.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

He goes on to suggest steps we can take to be part of what he calls the 'white-collar revolution'.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Of course, interest in artisans, small shopkeepers, white-collar workers and other groups has not been completely lacking.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Many characterised the inactive work of the white-collar employee through a language of heroic physicality.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

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These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

What is the pronunciation of white-collar?

Translations of white-collar

in Chinese (Traditional)

白領的，非體力勞動的，腦力勞動的…

Meaning of white-collar in English

white-collar | American Dictionary

white-collar | Business English

Examples of white-collar

Translations of white-collar

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