workmanship
Americannoun
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the art or skill of a workman or workwoman.
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the quality or mode of execution, as of a thing made.
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the product or result of labor and skill; work executed.
noun
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the art or skill of a workman
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the art or skill with which something is made or executed
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the degree of art or skill exhibited in the finished product
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the piece of work so produced
Etymology
Origin of workmanship
First recorded in 1325–75, workmanship is from the Middle English word werkmanschipe. See workman, -ship
Explanation
The noun workmanship can describe the hard work and skill that go into making something or working at a task — and it can also describe a quality of a handmade object that is skillfully crafted. You show workmanship when you labor carefully over a project, and the beautiful hooked rug you create also shows workmanship. If your shop teacher admires the workmanship of your wooden footstool, she is complimenting the quality of your work. The fourteenth century meaning of workmanship was simply "laboring," and later it came to include the idea of "skill in work."
Vocabulary lists containing workmanship
Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -ship
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The Door in the Wall
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-ship
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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.
“Every owner must have taken meticulous good care; it’s got good bones. It was quality workmanship back then. We’re doing only a little bit of tweaking; we’re not compromising its integrity.”
From Seattle Times • Nov. 10, 2017
Other failures in quality workmanship cited by the FAA included:
From Seattle Times • Feb. 12, 2017
The custom-made, quality workmanship is designed by Mel Pardue of Repton, Ala. It offers an axis lock construction on a 3.45-inch blade, which makes it extremely resilient.
From Seattle Times • May 27, 2016
Evergreen has always paid the utmost attention to quality workmanship that ensures the safety and reliability of every aircraft that leaves our facility.
From Time Magazine Archive
Whatever we sell has got to be up to our standard in quality material, quality workmanship, and quality of design.
From 100 New Yorkers of the 1970s by Millard, Max
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.
