Home US English blue-collar

Definition of blue-collar in English:

blue-collar

Pronunciation /ˌblo͞oˈkälər/ /ˌbluˈkɑlər/

See synonyms for blue-collar

Translate blue-collar into Spanish

adjective

North American

  • Relating to manual work or workers, particularly in industry.

    Compare with white-collar

    ‘their speech and attitudes mark them as blue-collar guys’
    • ‘There have also been large numbers of blue-collar workers in service and garment industries.’
    • ‘Give the country boy, blue-collar worker, farmer in Tennessee a voice he can relate to.’
    • ‘Both work and family did indeed emerge among the blue-collar workers' core values.’
    • ‘Unemployment among blue-collar workers rose when heavy industry shifted its production focus.’
    • ‘Virtually every industry has reported layoffs of both white- and blue-collar workers.’
    • ‘Obviously, this applies not only to blue-collar factory workers, but to people who work in offices or the service sector.’
    • ‘The Tokyo economy grew so fast in the 1980s that the city faced a shortage of blue-collar workers.’
    • ‘His dad was the average blue-collar worker, a Pittsburgh trademark.’
    • ‘She is equally comfortable dealing with blue-collar workers and elite patrons.’
    • ‘Sauer's study is noteworthy because of its emphasis on blue-collar workers at risk.’
    • ‘My Dad is a retired blue-collar worker, having once been a bus driver in Glasgow, and later a button pusher at the local power station.’
    • ‘It depicts a blue-collar worker, but it's afraid to show the work she'd actually do.’
    • ‘He decries the shortage of blue-collar workers which, in his opinion, this allowance will make worse not better.’
    • ‘The blue-collar workers in the boroughs aren't allowed to touch stop signs or any street signage.’
    • ‘Technically they belong to the cops, but city blue-collar workers have access to them as needed.’
    • ‘He treats everyone, be they blue-collar workers or heads of state, with the same respect.’
    • ‘The daughter of a blue-collar factory worker, Anne grew up on a council estate in Bracknell.’
    • ‘Many manufacturing companies said that they had stepped up hiring of both blue-collar and white-collar workers.’
    manual, wage, waged, industrial, factory
    View synonyms