employ

If you employ someone, you pay them to work for you.

• The shop employs five people.
• They employed me as a driver.
• Does your company employ students during the summer?

How to use it: employ someone as something (The hotel employs her as a cook.); employ someone to do something (We employed someone to clean the office.)

Similar words: hire, take on

Opposites: dismiss, fire

Common phrases: employ someone, employ staff, employ someone full time

To use a method, tool, or person to achieve something.

• We employ several methods.
• She employed humour to calm the audience.
• Which techniques did they employ in the study?

How to use it: employ something to do something (The researchers employed cameras to track the birds.); employ something in doing something (They employed new tools in analysing the data.)

Similar words: use, utilize

Common phrases: employ a method, employ a technique, employ a strategy

The state of working for someone who pays you, usually in the phrase 'in someone's employ'.

• He is in my employ.
• She left the company's employ last spring.
• Several gardeners were in the family's employ.

How to use it: in someone's employ (She remained in their employ for ten years.)

Similar words: employment, service

Common phrases: in someone's employ, leave someone's employ