white-collar

[hwahyt-kol-er, wahyt-] /ˈʰwaɪtˈkɒl ər, ˈwaɪt-/
adjective
1.
belonging or pertaining to the ranks of office and professional workers whose jobs generally do not involve manual labor or the wearing of a uniform or work clothes.
noun
2.
a white-collar worker.
Compare blue-collar.
Origin
1920-25
Examples from the web for white-collar
  • Blue-collar layoffs have started turning into white-collar layoffs.
  • His first response was a plan to streamline management, reducing the company's white-collar ranks through attrition.
  • Computers do increasing amounts of white-collar work.
  • Most white-collar jobs already consist of mind work.
  • His study asked several hundred white-collar workers how they'd landed their jobs.
  • It's even more important than whether the parents went to college or hold white-collar jobs.
  • And white-collar employees are not immune to the skills gap as education levels increase around the world.
  • He's well-read and has a reasonably secure white-collar job.
  • Geologists are only behind policemen and firemen for white-collar mortality rates.
  • So the idea of making crooks, especially white-collar ones, pay their way could take off.
British Dictionary definitions for white-collar

white-collar

adjective
1.
of, relating to, or designating nonmanual and usually salaried workers employed in professional and clerical occupations: white-collar union Compare blue-collar, pink-collar
white-collar in Culture

white-collar definition


A descriptive term for office workers, who use a minimum of physical exertion, as opposed to blue-collar laborers. Managerial, clerical, and sales jobs are common white-collar occupations.

Slang definitions & phrases for white-collar

white-collar

modifier
  1. Employed as clerks, office workers, etc: The white collar workers don't strike very often/ As early as the 1920s they were called white-collar slaves and by the 1950s nine-to-fivers
  2. Performed by people who work in offices, esp by managers, high executives, etc: White-collar crime has become a serious problem (1919+)