noun
-
(often plural) defences which lie outside main defensive works
-
work performed away from the factory, office, etc, by which it has been commissioned
verb
-
to work better, harder, etc, than
-
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:
“She may be being outspent — Democrats are being outspent in most places, and Black women are always outspent. What she has said is people can’t outwork her.”
From Salon ● Oct. 21, 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’m trying to outwork the people. I’m trying to outwork me.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 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
My father says, “Just do your best. Remember—it’s a long race and you can always outwork talent in the end.”
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
USC was outshot 53% to 27% by its rival, outrebounded 46 to 26 and outworked in pretty much every sense of the word.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 3, 2026
"I felt our fitness as well in the second half, we outworked the defence and that created chances for us."
From BBC ● Nov. 24, 2024
To the last, looking as if he was bowed down to the point of exhaustion by his labours, he outworked all his subordinates.
From The Mirrors of Downing Street Some Political Reflections by a Gentleman with a Duster by Harold Begbie
The Burton-upon-Trent fighter began well, doubling up on his jabs and outworking Wach in the opening rounds.
From BBC ● Jun. 16, 2023
“A lot of guys’ niches is shooting the ball, working hard, outworking guys.
From Seattle Times ● May 15, 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
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
When the outworking of this force within her is hampered by the bearing and the care of too many children, woman rebels.
From Woman and the New Race by Margaret Sanger
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
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
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
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
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.
