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# employ

«employ» in Mova's school dictionary: **to give them a job and pay them** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

verb (employ, employs, employed, employing); noun (employ — formal, «in the employ of»)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To employ someone is to give them a job and pay them. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/employ/#m1)

2) (formal) To employ something is to use it: employ a method. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/employ/#m2)

3) To employ yourself means to keep yourself busy doing something. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/employ/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In everyday life and maths money problems, a company employs workers and pays them wages. In formal exam language «Employ a suitable method» means use one. Phrases: be employed by, employ a strategy.

### examples

- The bakery employs six people. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/employ/#x1)
- My mum is employed by the council. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/employ/#x2)
- The factory employs 200 workers. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/employ/#x3)
- (formal) Employ a suitable method to solve the problem. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/employ/#x4)
- They employed a builder to fix the roof. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/employ/#x5)
- The shop employs extra staff at Christmas. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/employ/#x6)
- You can employ yourself in embroidering your wedding gown. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/employ/#x7)

### note

Regular verb. Nouns: employer (the boss who pays), employee (the worker), employment (having a job); opposite: unemployed. In maths: total wages = number employed × pay each.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «employ» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/employ/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.