employ

/ɪmˈplɔɪ/ (bre, ipa) · /ɪmˈplɔɪ/ (ame, ipa) · /im-ˈplȯi em-/ (ame, mw)

employ — verb

  • employpresent simple I / you / we / they
  • employshe / she / it
  • employedpast simple
  • employing-ing form

1. to pay someone to do work for you, typically as a regular worker or employee

1.動詞及物A2
釋義

to pay someone to do work for you, typically as a regular worker or employee

例句

The restaurant employs twenty kitchen staff and ten waiters.

employ + person(s) + as [role group]

Shanti was employed as a graphic designer at a small publishing company.

passive: be employed as [role]

同義詞
  • hire

    less formal; common in everyday speech for both short-term and long-term work

  • take on

    phrasal verb, informal; implies adding someone to an existing team

  • recruit

    more formal; suggests actively seeking and selecting candidates

  • engage

    very formal; used for contracting specialist services

反義詞
  • fire

    informal; to end someone's employment

  • dismiss

    formal; to remove someone from a job

  • lay off

    to end employment due to lack of work, not poor performance

文法句型

employ + someone

employ + someone + as + role

employ + someone + to + infinitive

用法筆記

In casual conversation, 'hire' is more common than 'employ'. This sense of 'employ' is typical in formal writing, job advertisements, and company policies.

常見錯誤

❌The company employed me a job.
✅The company employed me as a receptionist.
💡'employ' takes a person as its direct object, not the job itself.
❌I employed as a waiter last summer.
✅I was employed as a waiter last summer.
💡Use the passive voice when the person receiving the job is the subject.

2. to deliberately use a particular tool, method, or ability to achieve a result

2.動詞及物B1
釋義

to deliberately use a particular tool, method, or ability to achieve a result

例句

The engineers employed a new filtration system to treat the polluted water.

employ + method/tool + to + infinitive

Renata employed simple vocabulary so her young students could follow the lesson.

同義詞
  • use

    neutral and far more common; appropriate for all registers

  • utilize

    very formal; often sounds overly technical in everyday writing

  • make use of

    slightly more formal than 'use'; idiomatic and natural in writing

反義詞
  • neglect

    to fail to use something beneficial

  • abandon

    to stop using a method or approach

文法句型

employ + something

employ + something + to + infinitive

employ + something + as + noun

用法筆記

More formal than 'use'. The object is typically an abstract or technical item — a strategy, technique, method, or tool — not an everyday physical object. 'Can I employ your phone?' would sound unnatural.

常見錯誤

❌She employed a spoon to eat the soup.
✅She used a spoon to eat the soup.
💡'employ' is too formal for ordinary household objects.
❌The team employed a new player.
✅The team hired / brought in a new player.
💡'employ' in this sense means 'use', not 'hire a person'.

3. to use a period of time to do a particular activity, especially when the time is

3.動詞及物B2
釋義

to use a period of time to do a particular activity, especially when the time is used with care or purpose

例句

The retired professor employed her mornings writing letters to old friends.

employ + time + [gerund]

The children were employed in painting a mural for the school library.

passive: be employed in + [gerund]

同義詞
  • spend

    neutral and very common; the everyday alternative to this sense

  • devote

    implies dedicated effort and care

文法句型

be employed in + doing something

employ + time + [gerund]

用法筆記

Almost always appears in the passive form 'be employed in' followed by a gerund, or with a possessive time expression. This sense is rare in everyday conversation — 'spend' is the neutral alternative.

常見錯誤

❌I employed three hours studying.
✅I employed my afternoons practising the violin.
💡'employ' with time needs a possessive or determiner ('my mornings', 'the weekend'), not a bare duration.
❌She employed the day by reading.
✅She employed the day reading.
💡Use the gerund directly, not 'by + gerund'.

employ — noun