(~s, ~ing, ~ed)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
If a person or company ~s you, they pay you to work for them.
The company ~s 18 staff...
More than 3,000 local workers are ~ed in the tourism industry...
The government counted 27,600,000 ~ed persons in West Germany.
VERB: V n, be V-ed in/as n, V-ed, also V n to-inf
2.
If you ~ certain methods, materials, or expressions, you use them.
The tactics the police are now to ~ are definitely uncompromising.
...the approaches and methods ~ed in the study.
= use
VERB: V n, V-ed, also V n as n
3.
If your time is ~ed in doing something, you are using the time you have to do that thing.
Your time could be usefully ~ed in attending to professional matters...
VERB: usu passive, be V-ed in -ing/n
4.
If you are in the ~ of someone or something, you work for them. (FORMAL)
Others hinted that he was in the ~ of the KGB...
PHRASE