word-vault
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A lightweight JavaScript package for English word definitions and collections.
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{
"term": "employ",
"partOfSpeech": "verb",
"ox3000": true,
"cefr": "a2",
"verbForms": {
"presentSimple": {
"iYouWeThey": "employ",
"heSheIt": "employs"
},
"pastSimple": "employed",
"pastParticiple": "employed",
"ingForm": "employing"
},
"definitions": [
{
"senseNumber": 1,
"definition": "to give somebody a job to do for payment",
"sensetop": "employ somebodyemploy somebody as somethingemploy somebody in somethingemploy somebody on somethingemploy somebody to do something",
"labels": "(British English)(British English)(North American English)(especially North American English)(especially British English)(especially North American English)(both especially British English)(especially North American English)",
"cefr": "a2",
"ox3000": true,
"examples": [
{
"text": "How many people does the company employ?",
"contextForm": "employ somebody"
},
{
"text": "His company currently **employs** 135 **workers** in total."
},
{
"text": "We **employ** 16 full-time **staff**."
},
{
"text": "For the past three years he has been employed as a firefighter.",
"contextForm": "employ somebody as something"
},
{
"text": "Twenty eight per cent of the workforce is employed in agriculture.",
"contextForm": "employ somebody in something"
},
{
"text": "From 1510 he was employed on projects for the emperor.",
"contextForm": "employ somebody on something"
},
{
"text": "A number of people have been employed to deal with the backlog of work.",
"contextForm": "employ somebody to do something"
},
{
"text": "By 1960 the arms industry directly employed 3.5 million people."
},
{
"text": "Mark is currently employed as a Professor of Linguistics."
},
{
"text": "The army has far more junior officers than it can usefully employ."
},
{
"text": "Those not gainfully employed are dependent on their savings."
}
],
"topics": ["Business", "Jobs"],
"collocations": {
"adverb": ["actively", "directly", "indirectly"],
"preposition": ["in"],
"phrases": [
"be fully employed",
"be gainfully employed",
"be permanently employed"
]
}
},
{
"senseNumber": 2,
"definition": "to use something such as a skill, method, etc. for a particular purpose",
"sensetop": "employ somethingemploy something for somethingemploy something as somethingemploy something to do something",
"labels": "(formal)",
"cefr": "b2",
"ox3000": true,
"examples": [
{
"text": "to **employ a technique/strategy/tactic**",
"contextForm": "employ something"
},
{
"text": "He criticized the repressive **methods employed** by the country's government."
},
{
"text": "The police had to employ force to enter the building."
},
{
"text": "Steel is employed for the lightweight frame.",
"contextForm": "employ something for something"
},
{
"text": "She employs fiction as a means to explore current social theories.",
"contextForm": "employ something as something"
},
{
"text": "This phrase is routinely employed to describe the president's style of government.",
"contextForm": "employ something to do something"
},
{
"text": "the tactics employed by the police"
},
{
"text": "teaching that actively employs computers in innovative and fruitful ways"
},
{
"text": "When properly employed, non-lethal weapons will save lives."
},
{
"text": "The safety net is an image commonly employed in everyday life."
},
{
"text": "Some teachers employ more traditional methods."
},
{
"text": "Self-checkout terminals are increasingly employed by retailers."
}
],
"collocations": {
"adverb": ["commonly", "extensively", "frequently"]
}
},
{
"senseNumber": null,
"definition": "if a person or their time is employed in doing something, the person spends time doing that thing",
"examples": [
{
"text": "She was employed in making a list of all the jobs to be done."
},
{
"text": "Will and Joe were busily employed in clearing out all the furniture."
},
{
"text": "Your time would be better employed doing something else."
},
{
"text": "You'd be far better employed taking care of your own affairs."
}
]
}
],
"pronunciations": {
"uk": [
{
"pronunciation": "/ɪmˈplɔɪ/",
"audio": "em/employ/employ__gb_3.mp3"
},
{
"pronunciation": "/ɪmˈplɔɪz/",
"audio": "em/employ/employs__gb_1.mp3"
},
{
"pronunciation": "/ɪmˈplɔɪd/",
"audio": "em/employ/employed__gb_1.mp3"
},
{
"pronunciation": "/ɪmˈplɔɪɪŋ/",
"audio": "em/employ/employing__gb_1.mp3"
}
],
"us": [
{
"pronunciation": "/ɪmˈplɔɪ/",
"audio": "em/employ/employ__us_4.mp3"
},
{
"pronunciation": "/ɪmˈplɔɪz/",
"audio": "em/employ/employs__us_1.mp3"
},
{
"pronunciation": "/ɪmˈplɔɪd/",
"audio": "em/employ/employed__us_1.mp3"
},
{
"pronunciation": "/ɪmˈplɔɪɪŋ/",
"audio": "em/employ/employing__us_1.mp3"
}
]
},
"wordOrigin": "late Middle English (formerly also as imploy): from Old French employer, based on Latin implicari ‘be involved in or attached to’, passive form of implicare, from in- ‘in’ + plicare ‘to fold’. In the 16th and 17th cent. the word also had the senses ‘enfold, entangle’ and ‘imply’, derived directly from Latin; compare with implicate."
}