wage

There are two different meanings and uses for the word "wage." In the first set of examples, "wage" is a noun that refers to money paid to a person for doing a job:

• She makes a high hourly wage at her job.
• What’s your hourly wage?
• His wages over the course of a year amount to $40,000.
• Their combined monthly wages come to $3,500.
• The minimum wage is the lowest amount of money that can be paid to an employee by law. In our state the minimum wage is $7.25 per hour.

When the word "wage" is used as a verb, it means to act in a combative manner (fighting) or to struggle against something:

• He’s waging a losing battle against his gambling addiction.
• People who wage war on each other eventually realize it’s not a good solution to the problems that exist among people.
• The Syrians are waging war on each other.

A tank is used for waging war.

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This page was first published on November 23, 2013. It was updated on August 20, 2016.