different between drudgery vs employment

English

Etymology

From drudge (“person who works in a low servile job”) +? -ery (suffix meaning ‘the art, craft, or practice of’ forming nouns).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /?d??d???i/
• Hyphenation: drudg?e?ry

Noun

drudgery (countable and uncountable, plural drudgeries)

1. Exhausting, menial, and tedious work.

   Synonyms: chore, dogsbody work, (military) fatigue, (archaic) swink, toil; see also Thesaurus:drudgery

Alternative forms

• drudgerie (obsolete)

Derived terms

• drudgerous (rare)

Related terms

• drudge

Translations

References

Further reading

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “drudgery”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

English

Etymology

From employ (itself from Middle French employer, from Middle French empleier, from Latin implic? (“enfold, involve, be connected with”), itself from in- + plic? (“fold”)) +? -ment

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m?pl??m?nt/, /?m?pl??m?nt/

Noun

employment (countable and uncountable, plural employments)

1. The work or occupation for which one is used, and often paid
2. The act of employing
3. A use, purpose

   The personnel director handled the whole employment procedure

4. The state of being employed
   • 1853, Herman Melville, Bartleby, the Scrivener, in Billy Budd, Sailor and Other Stories, New York: Penguin Books, 1968; reprint 1995 as Bartleby, ISBN 0 14 60.0012 9, p.3:

     At the period just preceding the advent of Bartleby, I had two persons as copyists in my employment, and a promising lad as an office-boy.

5. An activity to which one devotes time
6. (economics) The number or percentage of people at work

Synonyms

• employ
• hire

Antonyms

• unemployment
• underemployment

Related terms

Translations