Employ vs. Use — What's the Difference?
Difference Between Employ and Use
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Compare with Definitions
Employ
Give work to (someone) and pay them for it
Temporary staff can be employed to undertake the work
The firm employs 150 people
Use
Take, hold, or deploy (something) as a means of accomplishing or achieving something; employ
She used her key to open the front door
The poem uses simple language
Employ
Make use of
The methods they have employed to collect the data
Use
Take or consume (an amount) from a limited supply
We have used all the available funds
Employ
The state of being employed for wages or a salary
I started work in the employ of a grocer
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Use
Describing an action or situation that was done repeatedly or existed for a period in the past
This road used to be a dirt track
I used to give him lifts home
Employ
To provide work to (someone) for pay
Agreed to employ the job applicant.
Use
Be or become familiar with (someone or something) through experience
She was used to getting what she wanted
He's weird, but you just have to get used to him
Employ
To engage the attention or activity of; occupy
Employed himself for an hour reading blogs.
Use
One would like or benefit from
I could use another cup of coffee
Employ
To put (something) to use or service
Employed a pen to open the package.
Employed her skills in the new job.
Use
The action of using something or the state of being used for a purpose
Hyper-modern trains are now in use
The software is ideal for use in schools
Theatre owners were charging too much for the use of their venues
Employ
To devote (time, for example) to an activity or purpose
Employed several months in learning Swahili.
Use
The value or advantage of something
It was no use trying to persuade her
What's the use of crying?
Employ
The state of being employed
In the employ of the city.
Use
The habitual consumption of a drug
Burgling and dealing financed their heroin use
Employ
(Archaic) An occupation.
Use
The characteristic ritual and liturgy of a Christian Church or diocese.
Employ
The state of being an employee; employment.
The school district has six thousand teachers in its employ.
Use
To put into service or employ for a purpose
I used a whisk to beat the eggs. The song uses only three chords.
Employ
(obsolete) The act of employing someone or making use of something; employment.
Use
To avail oneself of; practice
Use caution.
Employ
(obsolete) Occupation.
Use
To conduct oneself toward; treat or handle
"the peace offering of a man who once used you unkindly" (Laurence Sterne).
Employ
To hire (somebody for work or a job).
Yesterday our local garage employed a new mechanic.
Use
To seek or achieve an end by means of; exploit
Used their highly placed friends to gain access to the president.
Felt he was being used by seekers of favor.
Employ
To use (somebody for a job, or something for a task).
The burglar employed a jemmy to get in.
Use
To take or consume for a purpose
She used her savings to buy a computer.
Employ
To make busy.
Use
To partake of, especially as a habit
She rarely uses alcohol.
Employ
To inclose; to infold.
Use
(ys, yst) Used in the past tense followed by to in order to indicate a former state, habitual practice, or custom
Mail service used to be faster.
Employ
To use; to have in service; to cause to be engaged in doing something; - often followed by in, about, on, or upon, and sometimes by to; as: (a) To make use of, as an instrument, a means, a material, etc., for a specific purpose; to apply; as, to employ the pen in writing, bricks in building, words and phrases in speaking; to employ the mind; to employ one's energies.
This is a day in which the thoughts . . . ought to be employed on serious subjects.
Use
(Slang) To take an illegal or narcotic drug, especially as a habit.
Employ
To occupy; as, to employ time in study.
Jonathan . . . and Jahaziah . . . were employed about this matter.
Thy vineyard must employ the sturdy steerTo turn the glebe.
Use
The act of using something; the application or employment of something for a purpose
With the use of a calculator.
Skilled in the use of the bow and arrow.
Employ
That which engages or occupies a person; fixed or regular service or business; employment.
The whole employ of body and of mind.
Use
The condition or fact of being used
A chair in regular use.
Employ
The state of being employed or having a job;
They are looking for employment
He was in the employ of the city
Use
The manner of using; usage
Learned the proper use of power tools.
Employ
Put into service; make work or employ (something) for a particular purpose or for its inherent or natural purpose;
Use your head!
We only use Spanish at home
I can't make use of this tool
Apply a magnetic field here
This thinking was applied to many projects
How do you utilize this tool?
I apply this rule to get good results
Use the plastic bags to store the food
He doesn't know how to use a computer
Use
The permission, privilege, or benefit of using something
Gave us the use of their summerhouse.
Employ
Engage or hire for work;
They hired two new secretaries in the department
How many people has she employed?
Use
The power or ability to use something
Lost the use of one arm.
Use
The need or occasion to use or employ something
I have no use for these old clothes.
Use
The quality of being suitable or adaptable to an end; usefulness
I tried to be of use in the kitchen.
Use
A purpose for which something is used
A tool with several uses.
A pretty bowl, but of what use is it?.
Use
Gain or advantage; good
There's no use in discussing it. What's the use?.
Use
Accustomed or usual procedure or practice
"We are but creatures of use and custom" (Mark Twain).
Use
A particular custom or practice
Uses introduced by recent immigrants.
Use
Enjoyment of property, as by occupying or employing it.
Use
The benefit or profit of lands and tenements of which the legal title is vested in another.
Use
The arrangement establishing the equitable right to such benefits and profits.
Use
A liturgical form practiced in a particular church, ecclesiastical district, or community.
Use
The act of using.
The use of torture has been condemned by the United Nations.
Use
(uncountable) The act of consuming alcohol or narcotics.
Use
Usefulness, benefit.
What's the use of a law that nobody follows?
Use
A function; a purpose for which something may be employed.
This tool has many uses.
Use
Occasion or need to employ; necessity.
I have no further use for these textbooks.
Use
Interest for lent money; premium paid for the use of something; usury.
Use
(archaic) Continued or repeated practice; usage; habit.
Use
(obsolete) Common occurrence; ordinary experience.
Use
(Christianity) The special form of ritual adopted for use in any diocese.
The Sarum, or Canterbury, use; the Hereford use; the York use; the Roman use; etc.
Use
(forging) A slab of iron welded to the side of a forging, such as a shaft, near the end, and afterward drawn down, by hammering, so as to lengthen the forging.
Use
To utilize or employ.
Use
(transitive) To employ; to apply; to utilize.
Use this knife to slice the bread.
We can use this mathematical formula to solve the problem.
Use
To expend; to consume by employing.
I used the money they allotted me.
We should use up most of the fuel.
She used all the time allotted to complete the test.
Use
(transitive) To exploit.
You never cared about me; you just used me!
Use
(transitive) To consume (alcohol, drugs, etc), especially regularly.
He uses cocaine. I have never used drugs.
Use
(intransitive) To consume a previously specified substance, especially a drug to which one is addicted.
Richard began experimenting with cocaine last year; now he uses almost every day.
Use
To benefit from; to be able to employ or stand.
I could use a drink. My car could use a new coat of paint.
Use
To accustom; to habituate. Now common only in participial form. Uses the same pronunciation as the noun; see usage notes.
Use
To become accustomed, to accustom oneself.
Use
To suggest, request, demand or expect that other people use a specific set of gender pronouns when referring to the subject.
I use they/them pronouns.
Use
To habitually do; to be wont to do. (Now chiefly in past-tense forms; see used to.)
I used to get things done.
Use
(dated) To behave toward; to act with regard to; to treat.
To use an animal cruelly
Use
To behave, act, comport oneself.
Use
The act of employing anything, or of applying it to one's service; the state of being so employed or applied; application; employment; conversion to some purpose; as, the use of a pen in writing; his machines are in general use.
Books can never teach the use of books.
This Davy serves you for good uses.
When he framedAll things to man's delightful use.
Use
Occasion or need to employ; necessity; as, to have no further use for a book.
Use
Yielding of service; advantage derived; capability of being used; usefulness; utility.
God made two great lights, great for their useTo man.
'T is use alone that sanctifies expense.
Use
Continued or repeated practice; customary employment; usage; custom; manner; habit.
Let later age that noble use envy.
How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable,Seem to me all the uses of this world!
Use
Common occurrence; ordinary experience.
O Cæsar! these things are beyond all use.
Use
The special form of ritual adopted for use in any diocese; as, the Sarum, or Canterbury, use; the Hereford use; the York use; the Roman use; etc.
From henceforth all the whole realm shall have but one use.
Use
The premium paid for the possession and employment of borrowed money; interest; usury.
Thou art more obliged to pay duty and tribute, use and principal, to him.
Use
The benefit or profit of lands and tenements. Use imports a trust and confidence reposed in a man for the holding of lands. He to whose use or benefit the trust is intended shall enjoy the profits. An estate is granted and limited to A for the use of B.
Use
A stab of iron welded to the side of a forging, as a shaft, near the end, and afterward drawn down, by hammering, so as to lengthen the forging.
Use
To make use of; to convert to one's service; to avail one's self of; to employ; to put a purpose; as, to use a plow; to use a chair; to use time; to use flour for food; to use water for irrigation.
Launcelot Gobbo, use your legs.
Some other means I have which may be used.
Use
To behave toward; to act with regard to; to treat; as, to use a beast cruelly.
How wouldst thou use me now?
Cato has used me ill.
Use
To practice customarily; to make a practice of; as, to use diligence in business.
Use hospitality one to another.
Use
To accustom; to habituate; to render familiar by practice; to inure; - employed chiefly in the passive participle; as, men used to cold and hunger; soldiers used to hardships and danger.
I am so used in the fire to blow.
Thou with thy compeers,Used to the yoke, draw'st his triumphant wheels.
I would, my son, that thou wouldst use the powerWhich thy discretion gives thee, to controlAnd manage all.
To study nature will thy time employ:Knowledge and innocence are perfect joy.
Use
To be wont or accustomed; to be in the habit or practice; as, he used to ride daily; - now disused in the present tense, perhaps because of the similarity in sound, between "use to," and "used to."
They use to place him that shall be their captain on a stone.
Fears use to be represented in an imaginary.
Thus we use to say, it is the room that smokes, when indeed it is the fire in the room.
Now Moses used to take the tent and to pitch it without the camp.
Use
To be accustomed to go; to frequent; to inhabit; to dwell; - sometimes followed by of.
He useth every day to a merchant's house.
Ye valleys low, where the mild whispers useOf shades, and wanton winds, and gushing brooks.
Use
The act of using;
He warned against the use of narcotic drugs
Skilled in the utilization of computers
Use
A particular service;
He put his knowledge to good use
Patrons have their uses
Use
What something is used for;
The function of an auger is to bore holes
Ballet is beautiful but what use is it?
Use
(economics) the utilization of economic goods to satisfy needs or in manufacturing;
The consumption of energy has increased steadily
Use
A pattern of behavior acquired through frequent repetition;
She had a habit twirling the ends of her hair
Long use had hardened him to it
Use
(law) the exercise of the legal right to enjoy the benefits of owning property;
We were given the use of his boat
Use
Exerting shrewd or devious influence especially for one's own advantage;
His manipulation of his friends was scandalous
Use
Put into service; make work or employ (something) for a particular purpose or for its inherent or natural purpose;
Use your head!
We only use Spanish at home
I can't make use of this tool
Apply a magnetic field here
This thinking was applied to many projects
How do you utilize this tool?
I apply this rule to get good results
Use the plastic bags to store the food
He doesn't know how to use a computer
Use
Take or consume (regularly or habitually);
She uses drugs rarely
Use
Seek or achieve an end by using to one's advantage;
She uses her influential friends to get jobs
The president's wife used her good connections
Use
Use up, consume fully;
The legislature expended its time on school questions
Use
Avail oneself to;
Apply a principle
Practice a religion
Use care when going down the stairs
Use your common sense
Practice non-violent resistance
Use
Habitually do something (use only in the past tense);
She used to call her mother every week but now she calls only occasionally
I used to get sick when I ate in that dining hall
They used to vacation in the Bahamas
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