wage slave

noun

Someone who works for wages and has little to no professional autonomy.

Similar
slave to the wagewagecuckwagie
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Meanings

nounwage slave (plural wage slaves)

plural wage slaves

  1. Someone who works for wages and has little to no professional autonomy.

    Yankovic stars as George Newman, a daydreaming wage slave whose overactive imagination keeps standing between him and a steady paycheck.

    2012 June 14, Scott Tobias, “Weird Al's UHF is uneven, but that just made it ahead of its time”, in The A.V. Club
    1 more example

    The catch is that you have to be invested in order to gnaw on it. The superwealthy will do fine buying and selling things. But many wage slaves just don't have the cash.

    1997 August 4, Daniel Kadlec, “The Tax Bill: Money In Motion”, in CNN
  2. informalSomeone who does very unpleasant or drudging work for a wage.

    Synonyms: slave to the wage, wagecuck, wagie

Synonyms & antonyms

nounSomeone who does very unpleasant or drudging work for a wage.

Similar
slave to the wagewagecuckwagie
Also see
employeeemployimslave to the wage

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 社畜
  • 社畜 (shèchù)one who works for wages
Dutch loonslaaf
  • loonslaafone who works for wages
Esperanto salajrosklavo
  • salajrosklavoone who works for wages
Finnish palkkaorja
  • palkkaorjaone who works for wages
French esclave salarié
  • esclave salariéone who works for wages
German Lohnsklave, Berufsmensch
  • Lohnsklaveone who works for wages
  • Berufsmenschone who works for wages
Greek μισθωτός σκλάβος
  • μισθωτός σκλάβος (misthotós sklávos)one who works for wages
Hungarian bérrabszolga
  • bérrabszolgaone who works for wages
Indonesian budak korporat
  • budak korporatone who works for wages
Japanese 社畜
  • 社畜 (shachiku)one who works for wages
Polish niewolnik płacy
  • niewolnik płacyone who works for wages
Portuguese escravo do salário, escravo assalariado
  • escravo do salárioone who works for wages
  • escravo assalariadoone who works for wages
Russian наёмный раб
  • наёмный раб (najómnyj rab)one who works for wages
Swedish löneslav
  • löneslavone who works for wages
Cite this entry
APA

wage slave. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wage%20slave

MLA

“wage slave.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wage%20slave. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “wage slave,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/wage%20slave.

Source: wage slave on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.