underwork

[uhn-der-wurk]

verb (used with object)

underworked, underworking 

1. to do less work on than is necessary or required.

   to underwork an idea.

2. to employ inadequately.

   He underworks his mind and overworks his feet.

verb (used without object)

underworked, underworking 

1. to do less work than is normal or proper.

   He is fat because he underworks and overeats.

Other Word Forms

• underworker noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of underwork¹

First recorded in 1495–1505; under- + work

Example Sentences

He can go to therapy to discuss why he makes the choices he does, but even if fear or insecurity leads him to overspend or underwork, he has to want to change.

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Underwork may actually create more disaffection than overwork.

Read more on Forbes

We need a labor movement that focuses on time and moves beyond a piecemeal approach on issues – canceled shifts, overtime, underwork, vacations, sick days – to see them all as operating together to create chaos in people’s lives.

Read more on The Guardian

In low-income and low-skill sectors, the problem is more likely, as Cha put it, to be “underwork”—people want to be working more hours but can’t get the shifts or have to piece together multiple part-time jobs.

Read more on The New Yorker

Mistakes, failures, successes, and an increasing degree of frustration over the overwork narratives we construct about academic lives, and the underwork narratives perceived by those outside of higher education.

Read more on Scientific American