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:
Unable to outrun or outthrow other players, Tom Brady had to outwork and outsmart them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
“It felt so fulfilling to wake up and think, ‘I’m going to outwork everybody around me and be more creative than them.’”
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 27, 2026
I think he will outwork Eubank and might stop him, but I am edging towards a Benn victory on points in an absolute thriller.
From BBC ● Nov. 12, 2025
We spoke after the first season of “Mo” came out and you talked about how as an immigrant, your mentality is you have to outwork everybody.
From Salon ● Feb. 11, 2025
But his eyes always seem hopeful when he says that I can outwork talent over the long haul, and so for him—and for me too—I try my best to do just that.
From "Boy21" by Matthew Quick
Some trained engineers looked down on him, but "he really outworked everybody," Diamos says.
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
One reason for his primary win is that he simply outworked Stevens, visiting over 110 cities, according to his campaign, holding over 500 public events and, in the process, building a genuine movement.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026
The crowd attempted to rouse McCann with a succession of "Molly" chants, but it was in vain as the Brazilian outworked her on the floor before securing a rear naked choke.
From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2025
“We just got outworked tonight,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 29, 2024
Griffith, the father of motion pictures, used to say there were only two people who outworked him — Mary Pickford and Lillian Gish.
From 100 New Yorkers of the 1970s by Max Millard
"We are talking a lot about moving the ball, being aggressive, outworking teams. Our players buy into that."
From BBC ● Mar. 14, 2025
“Winning an Iowa caucus requires a strong combination of outworking and out-organizing the competition and that’s been the Ron DeSantis model.”
From Washington Times ● Nov. 30, 2023
“I think our coaching staff has done a good job with us. … I feel like we’re outcompeting teams, outworking them and finding ways to win hockey games. I think we’re all having a blast.”
From Washington Post ● Dec. 25, 2022
"We’ve got to bear down on our clears, on our entries, and back to outworking PPs that are out there."
From Fox News ● Mar. 30, 2022
This gives it leverage, or focus for the outworking of its forces.
From Understanding the Scriptures by Francis John McConnell
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 Hudson Tuttle
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 Allen Putnam
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 Allen Putnam
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
