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outwork

[verb out-wurk; noun out-wurk]
verb (used with object), out·worked or out·wrought, out·work·ing.
  1. to work harder, better, or faster than.
  2. to work out or carry on to a conclusion; finish: a problem to be outworked in after generations.
  3. Archaic. to outdo in workmanship.
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noun
  1. a minor defense built or established outside the principal fortification limits.
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Origin of outwork

1200–50; Middle English: to complete; see out-, work
Related formsout·work·er, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for outworking

Historical Examples

  • This gives it leverage, or focus for the outworking of its forces.

    Understanding the Scriptures

    Francis McConnell

  • So is hidden from our eyes the outworking of the century to come.

    The Negro and the Nation

    George S. Merriam

  • He is too tremendously wrapped up in the outworking of His plans.

  • The first outworking of my vision was on a drunken stone mason of our town.

    From the Bottom Up

    Alexander Irvine

  • Thus Bill saw the outworking of his devilishly ingenious tactics.

    Jan

    A. J. Dawson

British Dictionary definitions for outworking

outwork

noun (ˈaʊtˌwɜːk)
  1. (often plural) defences which lie outside main defensive works
  2. work performed away from the factory, office, etc, by which it has been commissioned
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verb (ˌaʊtˈwɜːk) -works, -working, -worked or -wrought (tr)
  1. to work better, harder, etc, than
  2. to work out to completion
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Derived Formsoutworker, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012