Advertisement - Continue reading below

Definition of "underemployed" []

  • Employed only part-time when one needs and desires full-time employment. (adjective)
  • Inadequately employed, especially employed at a low-paying job that requires less skill or training than one possesses. (adjective)
  • Not fully or adequately used or employed. (adjective)
  • Underemployed persons considered as a group. Used with the. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "underemployed" in a sentence
  • "We are seeing more clients that have what we call underemployed, where they may be holding multiple jobs to make ends meet or maybe that they are not getting a full 40 hours a week, so they are looking for something better."
  • "We're seeing more clients that have -- what we call underemployed, where they may be holding multiple jobs to make ends meet."
  • "I see a lot of that in underemployed poorly educated white trash …."