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• job
  job

  noun

  a piece of work, especially a specific task done as part of the routine of one's occupation or for an agreed price.
• Job
  Job

  noun

  the central figure in an Old Testament parable of the righteous sufferer.

job

¹ American  

[job] / dʒɒb /

noun

• jobs
  plural

1. a piece of work, especially a specific task done as part of the routine of one's occupation or for an agreed price.

   She gave him the job of mowing the lawn.

2. a post of employment; full-time or part-time position.

   She was seeking a job as an editor.

3. anything a person is expected or obliged to do; duty; responsibility.

   It is your job to be on time.

4. an affair, matter, occurrence, or state of affairs.

   to make the best of a bad job.

5. the material, project, assignment, etc., being worked upon.

   The housing project was a long and costly job.

6. the process or requirements, details, etc., of working.

   It was a tedious job.

7. the execution or performance of a task.

   She did a good job.

8. Informal. a medical procedure or operation performed to improve the appearance of a specified part of the body (used in combination).

   a nose job; a boob job to enlarge her breasts.

9. Slang. a theft or similar criminal action.

   The police caught the gang that pulled that bank job.

10. a public or official act or decision carried through for the sake of improper private gain.

11. Slang. an example of a specific or distinctive type.

    That little six-cylinder job was the best car I ever owned.

    That guy sure is a good-looking job.

12. Computers. a unit of work for a computer, generally comprising an application program or group of related programs and the data, linkages, and instructions to the operating system needed for running the programs.

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verb (used without object)

jobbed, jobbing

1. to work at jobs or odd pieces of work; work by the piece.

2. to do business as a jobber.

3. to turn public business, planning, etc., improperly to private gain.

verb (used with object)

jobbed, jobbing

1. to assign or give (work, a contract for work, etc.) in separate portions, as among different contractors or workers (often followed byout ).

   He jobbed out the contract to a number of small outfits.

2. to buy in large quantities, as from wholesalers or manufacturers, and sell to dealers in smaller quantities.

   He jobs shoes in Ohio and Indiana.

3. to get rid of or dispose of.

   His party jobbed him when he sought a second term in office.

4. to swindle or trick (someone).

   They jobbed him out of his property.

5. to carry on (public or official business) for improper private gain.

adjective

1. of or for a particular job or transaction.

2. bought, sold, or handled together.

   He's too big a customer to buy in less than job quantities.

idioms

1. do a job on,

   1. to destroy, defeat, damage, or confound thoroughly.

      The thugs did a job on him—he'll be in the hospital for a month.

   2. to deceive, persuade, or charm glibly; snow.

2. on the job, alert; observant.

   The cops were on the job and caught them red-handed.

job ² American  

[job] / dʒɒb /

verb (used with or without object)

jobbed, jobbing

1. poke; thrust; punch.

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Job ³ American  

[johb] / dʒoʊb /

noun

1. the central figure in an Old Testament parable of the righteous sufferer.

2. a book of the Bible bearing his name.

3. a male given name: from a Hebrew word meaning “persecuted.”

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job ¹ British  

/ dʒɒb /

noun

1. an individual piece of work or task

2. an occupation; post of employment

3. an object worked on or a result produced from working

4. a duty or responsibility

   her job was to cook the dinner

5. informal a difficult task or problem

   I had a job to contact him

6. a state of affairs

   make the best of a bad job

   it's a good job I saw you

7. informal a damaging piece of work

   he really did a job on that

8. informal a crime, esp a robbery or burglary

9. informal an article or specimen

   the new car was a nice little job

10. an instance of jobbery

11. computing a unit of work for a computer consisting of a single complete task submitted by a user

12. appointments given to or created for allies or favourites

13. 1. actively engaged in one's employment

    2. taboo engaged in sexual intercourse

14. exactly what was required

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verb

1. (intr) to work by the piece or at casual jobs

2. to make a private profit out of (a public office, etc)

3. 1. to buy and sell (goods or services) as a middleman

      he jobs in government surplus

   2. to buy and sell stocks and shares as a stockjobber

      he jobs in blue chips

4. to apportion (a contract, work, etc) among several contractors, workers, etc

Job ² British  

/ dʒəʊb /

noun

1. Old Testament

   1. a Jewish patriarch, who maintained his faith in God in spite of the afflictions sent by God to test him

   2. the book containing Job's pleas to God under these afflictions, attempted explanations of them by his friends, and God's reply to him

2. any person who withstands great suffering without despairing

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Job Cultural  

1. In the Old Testament, a man whose faith was severely tested by Satan, with God's permission. Job was the most prosperous and happy of men, who faithfully praised God for God's goodness. In order to get him to curse God, Satan destroyed all that Job owned, killed his children, and struck Job himself with vile sores from head to foot. False friends of Job's suggested that he should abandon his beliefs (see Job's comforters). But even in absolute misery, Job would not curse God, saying instead, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord.” As a reward for his steadfast faith, God healed Job and “gave him twice as much as he had before.”

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job More Idioms  

1. see do a job on; hatchet man (job); lie down (on the job); on the job; put-up job; snow job; soft job.

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Synonym Usage

See task. See position.

Discover More

Figuratively, any long-suffering person can be said to be “as patient as Job.”

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• jobs
  plural

Etymology

Origin of job¹

First recorded in 1620–30; origin uncertain

Origin of job²

First recorded in 1475–1500; late Middle English jobben “to jab, thrust, peck, poke”; further origin uncertain

Explanation

Unless you win the lottery, you will probably need a job, or employment where you do work for pay. There are also non-paying jobs: it might be your job to wash the dishes after dinner. Job and work are often synonymous and unfortunately often have a negative connotation meaning “toil." Other meanings of job that are negative involve damaging events or crimes. When you wrecked your car, someone might have said, "You did a real job on that;" or, when you convinced your sister to hand over her allowance, you might have referred to it as a "con job."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

job Job jobs jobbed jobbing

The economist Lord Jim O'Neill, who has been advising the prime minister, has said he will not be taking a job in Andy Burnham's government.

From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026

“I didn’t realize that I saw my job as selling to humans until robots started buying books from me.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026

In April, the Pentagon fired Jacqueline Smith, the newspaper’s ombudsman, whose job was specifically intended to protect its editorial independence.

From Salon ● Aug. 22, 2026

Marissa Roy, a deputy attorney general with the California Department of Justice, is competing for the job with Los Angeles County prosecutor John McKinney in the November election.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026

Did I dare try to get a job out there?

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

Job cuts are difficult for families, he said, but the new project offers "a unique opportunity" for the city to "position itself in a much better way" for the decades ahead.

From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026

Job seekers are editing their career back-stories as employers pump AI terms into job descriptions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

If Resurrection Church is famed in Catholic and activist circles across Southern California, it’s because parishioners over the decades have had to deal with afflictions on the level of Job.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026

Job openings fell at the start of the summer, and several labor-market reports indicate employment growth stalled in July.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026

He held a Bible in his huge hands and read from Job and Ecclesiastes until I could hardly stand to listen.

From "Kindred" by Octavia Butler

The chart below shows the decline in manufacturing jobs in the St. Louis metro area, which refers to surrounding regions such as St. Louis County and St. Charles County.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 22, 2026

The loss of local manufacturing jobs helped suppressed demand in places like St. Louis.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 22, 2026

Around 19% of jobs advertised on digital job boards in the second quarter were ghost jobs, according to Greenhouse, a hiring platform that examined its clients’ job postings.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

"I'm struggling to find jobs that suit both childcare and myself. I've considered moving from here to Paisley because there is so much more to do there."

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026

The farm machines powered along, doing their jobs as usual, but they needed to be maintained and monitored.

From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown

Then it may end up in an off-price channel or being jobbed out to another country, et cetera.

From The Verge ● Jul. 26, 2022

College football fans watching the game believed Tennessee got jobbed.

From Fox News ● Dec. 31, 2021

After his discharge, he jobbed around as a disc jockey and newscaster at commercial stations in North Carolina and Virginia, including WAVA-FM in Northern Virginia, before joining NPR.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 17, 2018

The play is rife with Williams’ flamboyant aphorisms, but the other characters all sound as if they were jobbed in from a daytime soap opera.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 1, 2017

"So that job's jobbed, as the saying is."

From Poor Jack by Frederick Marryat

Foad, 29, describes himself as a "jobbing comedy writer" who won a scholarship to drama school before moving into scriptwriting.

From BBC ● Mar. 27, 2022

The practice of double jobbing or the dual mandate, was banned six years ago.

From BBC ● Jan. 19, 2022

In his letter, Lord Caine said he was opposed to the possibility of double jobbing remaining indefinitely so the amendment was reworked with a time limit.

From BBC ● Jan. 16, 2022

Double jobbing, also known as dual mandates, were banned in Northern Ireland in 2016, when a number of MPs were forced to give up their seats in the assembly.

From BBC ● Jan. 16, 2022

His musical efflorescence was tragically brief, but this is the man who turned the chord-strumming, jobbing electric guitar into a high-wire, virtuoso lead instrument, from also-ran to star turn.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

Related Words

• activity
• appointment
• assignment
• business
• career
• office
• operation
• place
• position
• post
• profession
• situation
• spot
• stint
• task
• trade
• work