hireling

Worker for wages

A hireling is someone who works only for pay, without loyalty or higher purpose.

The word carries contempt—it suggests mercenary motives and willingness to do whatever the employer demands: The senator surrounded himself with hirelings who would never challenge him.

A hireling soldier fights for money, not conviction.

The term implies moral compromise that mere "employee" does not.

temporary

temp

Provisional worker, briefly

contractorHired construction professional
freelancerSelf-employed service provider
casualRelaxed and informal

seasonal · substitute · fill-in · stand-in · stopgap · locum · relief · interim · short-term · on-call

employee

worker

Person who toils

subordinateOne lower in rank
assistantOne who aids another
staffOrganization's workers collectively

minion · lackey · flunky · underling · retainer · servant · hand · help · jobholder · laborer

mercenary

Soldier fighting for pay

contractorHired construction professional
bodyguardPaid personal security agent
enforcerOne who ensures compliance

privateer · commando · assassin · hitman · ronin · legionnaire · sellsword · condottiero · freebooter · adventurer

disposable

expendable

Able to be sacrificed

replaceableAble to be exchanged
interchangeableAble to replace another
dispensableAble to be sacrificed

throwaway · fungible · anonymous · faceless · nameless · exploitable · discardable · outsourced · at-will · precarious

hireling

temp

worker

mercenary

expendable

hireling

Opposites

Categories

Family