Sweatshop
//ˈswɛtˌʃɑp// noun
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A factory or other place of work where pay is low and conditions are poor or even illegal.
"I was thrilled to be able to build my own shoes, and my personal iD was offered as a small token of appreciation for the sweatshop workers poised to help me realize my vision."
- 2 factory where workers do piecework for poor pay and are prevented from forming unions; common in the clothing industry wordnet
Example
More examples"If the real purpose of all the uproar about sweatshop labor in the Third World is to allow college students and professors to feel morally one-up on businesses that are providing much-needed jobs in poor countries, then it accomplishes that purpose."
Etymology
From sweat (“to extract money, labour, etc.”, verb) + shop.
More for "sweatshop"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.