as in employe
one who works for another for wages or a salary
demanded to speak to the store's owner and not one of his hirelings
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Recent Examples of hireling
To pretend otherwise in the year 2024 is all-but to out oneself as a hireling.
—
Charles C. W. Cooke, National Review, 12 Feb. 2024
For all the bombast about Trump as a potential Putin hireling, so assiduously hyped by the media and congressional Democrats, Mueller’s actual charges mainly involved false statements made to FBI investigators, often about comparatively trivial matters.
—Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review, 15 Feb. 2022
No refuge could save the hireling and slave.
—Vanessa Etienne, PEOPLE.com, 30 June 2021
Neither should some assistant DA hireling be allowed to forgo appropriate punishment under state law.
—Star Tribune, 8 Dec. 2020
Like Sade, Epstein had hirelings to procure his victims.
—Mitchell Abidor, The New York Review of Books, 12 Feb. 2020
Not since Carson Palmer has one of Mike Brown’s hirelings had the emperor in such a headlock.
—Paul Daugherty, Cincinnati.com, 2 Jan. 2018
This dangerous idea is being pushed by Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater, a U.S. contracting firm whose private security hirelings famously shot up civilians in Baghdad.
—Trudy Rubin, Philly.com, 18 Aug. 2017
No refuge could save the hireling and slave from the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave.
—Solomon Jones, Philly.com, 18 July 2017
Charles C. W. Cooke, National Review, 12 Feb. 2024
For all the bombast about Trump as a potential Putin hireling, so assiduously hyped by the media and congressional Democrats, Mueller’s actual charges mainly involved false statements made to FBI investigators, often about comparatively trivial matters.
—Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review, 15 Feb. 2022
No refuge could save the hireling and slave.
—Vanessa Etienne, PEOPLE.com, 30 June 2021
Neither should some assistant DA hireling be allowed to forgo appropriate punishment under state law.
—Star Tribune, 8 Dec. 2020
Like Sade, Epstein had hirelings to procure his victims.
—Mitchell Abidor, The New York Review of Books, 12 Feb. 2020
Not since Carson Palmer has one of Mike Brown’s hirelings had the emperor in such a headlock.
—Paul Daugherty, Cincinnati.com, 2 Jan. 2018
This dangerous idea is being pushed by Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater, a U.S. contracting firm whose private security hirelings famously shot up civilians in Baghdad.
—Trudy Rubin, Philly.com, 18 Aug. 2017
No refuge could save the hireling and slave from the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave.
—Solomon Jones, Philly.com, 18 July 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hireling
Noun
-
As startup businesses morph into scaleups, their key employees gain experience and start to develop business ideas of their own.—
Trevor Clawson,
Forbes.com,
14 June 2025
-
From Florida to the Bahamas to various Caribbean islands, travelers stranded by the shutdown of Silver Airways started the process of seeking refunds for flights not taken, while blind-sided employees whose livelihoods were suddenly cut off asked a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge to help them.—
David Lyons,
Sun Sentinel,
14 June 2025
Noun
-
The poop is dry and hard enough so that for ant species that don’t have indoor toilet chambers, the workers can just kick the poop out of the nest.—
Avery Hurt,
Discover Magazine,
14 June 2025
-
The father of 12 built a successful business polishing floors, hiring several workers.—
Elena Becatoros,
Los Angeles Times,
14 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Hireling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hireling. Accessed 19 Jun. 2025.
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