noun
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(often plural) defences which lie outside main defensive works
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work performed away from the factory, office, etc, by which it has been commissioned
verb
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to work better, harder, etc, than
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to work out to completion
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of outwork
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“I’m trying to outwork the contract,” Snoop said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026
Early in his political career, Newsom said, “I realized I’m just gonna outwork everybody.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2023
I understood where my talents were, and I knew I was going to have to outwork people, I knew I was going to have to outsmart.
From Salon ● Aug. 22, 2023
With blood trickling from the away fighter's nose, Jonas countered smartly off the backfoot, using her superior skills to outwork and out-jab Wyatt.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2023
If its attorneys do not outsmart you, they will outwork you, and if they can’t outwork you, they’ll win through sheer intimidation.
From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell
“We just got outworked tonight,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 29, 2024
As a candidate in Iowa, Mr. Trump was often conspicuously outworked by his competitors.
From New York Times ● Jan. 16, 2024
Former Aston Villa midfielder Andy Townsend on Amazon Prime: "I don't think Guardiola has seen his side outmanoeuvred and outworked as much as he has tonight. Villa have dominated Manchester City."
From BBC ● Dec. 6, 2023
Kawhi Leonard had 38 points and the Clippers, led by Russell Westbrook, outworked the Suns late to pick up a Game 1 playoff win.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2023
It is said that if he disliked a fellow pressman and wished to be rid of him, he merely put forth his immense strength and outworked him.
From Great Fortunes, and How They Were Made by McCabe, James Dabney
"We are talking a lot about moving the ball, being aggressive, outworking teams. Our players buy into that."
From BBC ● Mar. 14, 2025
Dunford, asked about the barriers that Gen. Stewart faced, said that his friend and colleague “knew it might be harder for him than others,” and believed that he could overcome obstacles by outworking others.
From Washington Post ● May 1, 2023
So, on a Tuesday night when the increasingly undermanned St. Louis Blues actually showed up for work, the Kraken secured a badly needed victory, 5-3, by outworking them at key moments.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 28, 2023
He said that was the secret to Mr. Seper’s success: “It’s not smoke and mirrors and tricks, it’s outworking other people.”
From Washington Times ● Oct. 25, 2022
It is profitable, of course, but when you survey the outworking of the plan you always see something other than profits involved.
From The International Jew The World's Foremost Problem by Ford, Henry
Great changes and advances of either a material, mental, political, social, or spiritual world are, like births, generally outwrought through anguish and sufferings.
From Witchcraft of New England Explained by Modern Spiritualism by Putnam, Allen
But man feels the aspirations for a superior life, a soaring out of and above the physical senses; he feels the promptings of duty, of right, of justice and truth, outwrought from his innermost being.
From Studies in the Out-Lying Fields of Psychic Science by Tuttle, Hudson
Our position, fortified by the facts and reasonings in the preceding pages, is, that spirits—departed human beings—generated and outwrought Salem witchcraft.
From Witchcraft of New England Explained by Modern Spiritualism by Putnam, Allen
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
