nonworking

American  

[non-wur-king] / nɒnˈwɜr kɪŋ /

adjective

1. not employed for a salary, fees, or wages; not producing or generating income.

   Our employee medical plan also covers nonworking spouses.

2. not involved in or deriving from labor; not engaged in or directed toward work, especially as an employee.

   What are some of your nonworking activities?

3. not functioning or operating.

   a nonworking coffee grinder.

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nonworking British  

/ nɒnˈwɜːkɪŋ /

adjective

1. not engaged in payed employment

   nonworking mothers

2. (of machinery, technology, etc) not operating properly or effectively

   nonworking telephones

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Etymology

Origin of nonworking

First recorded in 1850–55; non- + working

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

nonworking

As Rod Phillips demonstrates in “Cats: A History”—an encyclopedic study of mankind’s ever-changing perception of felines—the concept of the nonworking housecat is, at the outermost, only 200 years old.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

For example, photos included in the indictment show the use of a hair dryer to move serial numbers to boxes of nonworking, replicated dummy servers in an attempt to mislead the U.S.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 21, 2026

During a Dec. 10 outage in Moorpark, a utility truck failed to stop at a nonworking light on State Route 118, crashing into a sedan.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2025

A change in the 2021 International Fire Code, for example, required that midsize construction sites employ a “fire watch” during nonworking hours.

From Slate ● Feb. 28, 2025

Their nonworking lives completely revolved around the Net, trading MP3s, finding software, getting their hands on new games, trying out new operating systems.

From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz

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