laborers
Those who toil
Laborers is the plural of laborer—workers who perform physical tasks, typically manual or unskilled work.
The term often implies hard, bodily effort: construction laborers, farm laborers, day laborers.
The laborers gathered at dawn, waiting to be hired.
In labor contexts, laborers are distinguished from skilled tradespeople and white-collar workers.
Laborers lacking capital ownership
- working-classManual laborers as group
- blue-collarManual labor workforce
- commonerNon-noble person
- peasantryRural working class
masses · plebeian · underclass · lumpenproletariat · exploited · oppressed · downtrodden · dispossessed
People doing jobs
- employeesPaid staff members
- crewWorking team aboard
- handsGripping limbs' extremities
- operativesThose who execute missions
hirelings · temps · casual · unskilled · semiskilled · apprentices · journeymen · gang
Moisture from skin pores
- callusesThickened protective skin areas
- musclesContractile body tissue
- strengthPower to exert force
- exertionVigorous physical effort
lifting · digging · shoveling · hauling · backbreaking · strenuous · toil · fatigue
Joining into one
- collectiveJointly organized group
- bargainingNegotiating mutually acceptable terms
- solidarityUnity among allies
- strikeForceful impact or stoppage
picket · grievance · arbitration · dues · steward · delegate · brotherhood · sisterhood
Agricultural employee
- fieldworkerOne who gathers data outdoors
- harvesterCrop-collecting machine
- pickerOne who gathers
- planterContainer for greenery
plowman · thresher · weeder · irrigator · sharecropper · tenant · peasant · campesino
Recurring at fixed intervals
- itinerantMoving for work
- transientTemporary, soon departing
- guestworkerForeign temporary hire
- undocumentedNot officially recorded
immigrant · emigrant · remittance · visa · temporary · nomadic · sojourner · expatriate
Skilled manual tradesperson
- carpenterTimber construction tradesperson
- blacksmithIron-shaping craftsperson
- masonBuilder using brick, mortar
- weaverThread-interlacing craftsperson
tailor · potter · cobbler · woodworker · tanner · jeweler · goldsmith · silversmith
proletariat
Laborers lacking capital ownership
- working-classManual laborers as group
- blue-collarManual labor workforce
- commonerNon-noble person
peasantry · masses · plebeian · underclass · lumpenproletariat · exploited · oppressed · downtrodden · dispossessed · landless
workers
People doing jobs
operatives · hirelings · temps · casual · unskilled · semiskilled · apprentices · journeymen · gang · pool
sweat
Moisture from skin pores
exertion · lifting · digging · shoveling · hauling · backbreaking · strenuous · toil · fatigue · endurance
union
Joining into one
- collectiveJointly organized group
- bargainingNegotiating mutually acceptable terms
- solidarityUnity among allies
strike · picket · grievance · arbitration · dues · steward · delegate · brotherhood · sisterhood · syndicate
farmhand
Agricultural employee
- fieldworkerOne who gathers data outdoors
- harvesterCrop-collecting machine
- pickerOne who gathers
planter · plowman · thresher · weeder · irrigator · sharecropper · tenant · peasant · campesino · coolie
seasonal
Recurring at fixed intervals
- itinerantMoving for work
- transientTemporary, soon departing
- guestworkerForeign temporary hire
undocumented · immigrant · emigrant · remittance · visa · temporary · nomadic · sojourner · expatriate · displaced
artisan
Skilled manual tradesperson
- carpenterTimber construction tradesperson
- blacksmithIron-shaping craftsperson
- masonBuilder using brick, mortar
weaver · tailor · potter · cobbler · woodworker · tanner · jeweler · goldsmith · silversmith · engraver
- laborersmanual worker, unskilled worker, hired hands, blue collar worker, hands
- peasantryserfs, tenant farmers, villagers, common folk, farmhands
- workersworkers, employee, employees, wage earner, breadwinner
- constructionconstruction site, building site, hammer, building, beam
- construction sitehard hat, hard hats, foreman, cones, cranes
- harvestreaping, fall harvest, wheat sheaf, reaper, reap
laborersmanagers
Those who oversee operations
executives · bosses · supervisors · directors · CEOs
laborerscapitalists
Owners of productive wealth
employers · owners · proprietors · industrialists · magnates
- day laborersWorkers hired daily
- labored breathingEffortful, strained respiration
- forced laborersCompelled workers, not free
- manual laborersWorkers using physical effort
- skilled laborerWorker with specialized training
- unskilled laborerWorker without specialized training