outwork

[ verb out-wurk; noun out-wurk ]

/ verb ˌaʊtˈwɜrk; noun ˈaʊtˌwɜrk /

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verb (used with object), out·worked or out·wrought, out·work·ing.

to work harder, better, or faster than.

to work out or carry on to a conclusion; finish: a problem to be outworked in after generations.

Archaic. to outdo in workmanship.

noun

a minor defense built or established outside the principal fortification limits.

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On the farm, the feed for chicks is significantly different from the roosters’; ______ not even comparable.

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Origin of outwork

1200–50; Middle English: to complete; see out-, work

OTHER WORDS FROM outwork

outworker, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use outwork in a sentence

Despotism cannot fetter thought—that is free everywhere—but it can and does restrain its outworking into practical action.
Stanley's Adventures in the Wilds of Africa|Joel Tyler Headley and William Fletcher Johnson
In such feeble tendencies, be it known, such outworking of desire to reproduce life, lies the basis of all dramatic art.
Sister Carrie|Theodore Dreiser
The outworking of the coup de main was a triumph for the old borderer's shrewd generalship.
The Master of Appleby|Francis Lynde
He sees the Rebellion as it is,—the outbreak and outworking of that spirit which makes hell horrible.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 16, No. 93, July, 1865|Various

In effect, the outworking of it meant a strictly defensive attitude in Africa, and in the north a naval siege of Germany.
The Message|Alec John Dawson

British Dictionary definitions for outwork

outwork

noun (ˈaʊtˌwɜːk)

(often plural) defences which lie outside main defensive works

work performed away from the factory, office, etc, by which it has been commissioned

verb (ˌaʊtˈwɜːk) -works, -working, -worked or -wrought (tr)

to work better, harder, etc, than

to work out to completion

Derived forms of outwork

outworker, 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

outwork

Origin of outwork

OTHER WORDS FROM outwork

Words related to outwork

How to use outwork in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for outwork

Derived forms of outwork