white-collar

[hwahyt-kol-er, wahyt-] / ˈʰwaɪtˈkɒl ər, ˈwaɪt- /

ADJECTIVE

non-manual

Synonyms

STRONGEST

clerical salaried

WEAK

executive office professional

NOUN

office worker

Synonyms

STRONG

administrator clerk employee executive jobholder manager supervisor worker

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Years later, a mix of days in the office and at home has become a common arrangement in the white-collar workplace — and a favored one, too.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 2, 2026

Scotland has no low-security prisons for white-collar criminals.

From BBC • Jun. 2, 2026

A disproportionate share of those jobs are remote-friendly, white-collar roles like customer-service reps, software developers and data specialists.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 27, 2026

Wardley, whose rise from white-collar boxing to world champion remains one of the sport's most inspirational stories, suffered the first defeat of his professional career but enhanced his reputation in the process.

From BBC • May 24, 2026

Back in Soweto, my mom enrolled in the secretarial course that allowed her to grab hold of the bottom rung of the white-collar world.

From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah