Other forms: contractors
A contractor is somebody hired for a fixed job rather than employed. An independent contractor, hire a contractor, the main contractor.
In construction, the main contractor runs a site and subcontractors do the specialist trades. In employment, the distinction between contractor and employee decides tax, sick pay and rights, and it is one of the most litigated questions in the field. Defence contractor is a company supplying armed forces. Note subcontract; and that contractor status is often assigned by what the working relationship actually is rather than by what the paperwork says.
1nouncontractorSomebody hired for a fixed job rather than employed.
“We hired a building contractor to put a new roof on the house.”
contractor is a hired worker or firm.
Latin contractor comes from contrahere, to draw together — con- plus trahere, to draw. A contract is drawn up, and both parties are literally drawn together by it.
Latin
contractor
English, today
contractor
Latin contractor, from Latin contractus, stem of contractus + -tor. 16th century.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA