{
    "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."
}