worker

UK: /ˈwɜː^rkə^r/ US: /ˈwɝkɚ/ ,(wûr′kər)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

work•er /ˈwɜrkɚ/   n. [countable]

1. one that works.
2. a laborer or employee.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

work•er  (wûr′kər), n. 

1. a person or thing that works.
2. a laborer or employee:
   steel workers.
3. a person engaged in a particular field, activity, or cause:
   a worker in psychological research; a worker for the Republican party.
4. Insects [Entomol.]
   • a member of a caste of sexually underdeveloped, nonreproductive bees, specialized to collect food and maintain the hive. See illus. under bee. 
   • a similar member of a specialized caste of ants, termites, or wasps.
5. Printing one of a set of electrotyped plates used to print from (contrasted with molder).
6. any of several rollers covered with card clothing that work in combination with the stripper rollers and the cylinder in the carding of fibers.

• Middle English werker, worcher. See work, -er¹ 1300–50

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

worker / ˈwɜːkə/ noun

1. a person or thing that works, usually at a specific job: a good worker, a research worker
2. an employee in an organization, as opposed to an employer or manager
3. a manual labourer or other employee working in a manufacturing or other industry
4. any other member of the working class
5. a sterile female member of a colony of bees, ants, or wasps that forages for food, cares for the larvae, etc