【Worker】 , 【workman】 ,  【workingman】 ,  【laborer】 ,  【craftsman】 ,  【handicraftsman】 ,  【mechanic】 ,  【artisan】 ,  【hand】 ,  【operative】 ,  【roustabout】  can all mean one who earns his living by labor, especially by manual labor.

【Worker】 , the most comprehensive and least specific of these terms, applies to someone who earns his living by work of 【hand】 or brain.

【Workman】  does not imply a specific kind of work, but in all but its extended senses it commonly implies manual labor. It may be applied to one engaged to do a specified piece of work or to help in the construction of something requiring many workers; it may also be applied to a skilled or to an unskilled 【worker】 .

Usually it implies opposition to employer , or manager , or foreman .

In extended use the term is applicable to a 【worker】 whether he works with his hands or with his mind provided he makes, constructs, invents, or creates something.

【Workingman】  is more restricted in its range of application than  【workman】  , and is, in spite of varying legal definitions, applied commonly to a wage earner who at an hourly, daily, or weekly rate pursues a trade (as carpentry, masonry, or plumbing) or is similarly employed in a mercantile, manufacturing, or industrial establishment as distinguished especially from an industrialist, a merchant, and a professional man.

【Laborer】 commonly designates one whose work demands more strength and physical exertion than skill (as on a construction or excavation job).

【Craftsman】  and  【handicraftsman】  basically apply to one who is a skilled 【workman】 in a craft or handicraft (see craft handicraft under TRADE 1 ). Unlike the foregoing terms these two are common in general use and may apply as freely with reference to an avocation as to an employment.

But the former may apply distinctively to a 【worker】 who is a competent technician or who is versed in the technique of his art, profession, or trade. It is especially used of artists, writers, playwrights, or skilled artificers.

【Mechanic】 applies specifically to a 【workman】 skilled in the repair or adjustment of machines.

【Artisan】  is more often opposed to artist (for this sense see under ARTIST 1 ) than employed as a designation of a particular type of 【workman】 . When applied to workingmen as such and without thought of opposition to artist , the term comes very close to  【craftsman】 and is commonly applied to one who is skilled in a trade (as carpentry, weaving, or shoemaking) that involves learned skills and their appropriate application as well as physical labor.

【Hand】 is applied to one of a crew, a force, or a gang of workmen or sometimes to an owner’s or proprietor’s helper or assistant.

【Operative】 , a general term suggestive of modern industrial conditions, applies to a 【workman】 employed in a mill, a manufactory, or an industry utilizing machines.

【Roustabout】  usually adds to  【laborer】 distinguishing implications of muscular fitness for exceedingly heavy work, roughness, and, often, migratory habits.