underwork

American  

[uhn-der-wurk] / ˌʌn dərˈwɜrk /

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.

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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

Etymology

Origin of underwork

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.

From MarketWatch • Nov. 6, 2025

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.

From Scientific American • Jan. 9, 2013

The young wife McKay takes with him suffers from underwork, a cold heart and a galloping case of pre-feminism.

From Time Magazine Archive

As the Highlander was expelled, it became more and more necessary to underwork the spinners and weavers of China.

From The slave trade, domestic and foreign Why It Exists, and How It May Be Extinguished by Carey, H. C. (Henry Charles)

But while Marx thus objects to piecework because it leads to overwork, he objects to it also because it leads to underwork.

From Contemporary Socialism by Rae, John