underwork
Americanverb (used with object)
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to do less work on than is necessary or required.
to underwork an idea.
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to employ inadequately.
He underworks his mind and overworks his feet.
verb (used without object)
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of underwork
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:
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
The intricate nervous system and the brain, the unseen instincts and emotions likewise do not work perfectly; but as a rule the ones that underwork or overwork cannot be seen by a physical examination.
From Crime: Its Cause and Treatment by Clarence Darrow
The broad projecting brow seemed too heavy for its underwork; and by its depression, gave a look of sadness to the countenance, till excited animation raised the eye, beaming vivacity and strength.
From The Ladies' Vase Polite Manual for Young Ladies by An American Lady
Frankel may have been underworked in Team USA’s one-sided rampage to the gold medal game, but Thursday she was on the brink until Keller finished it off.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
During the Chargers-Steelers game, the announcers said that Joey Bosa has missed 38 games since 2016, which would seemingly make him the most overpaid and underworked Chargers player in recent memory.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2024
Gnabry got the fourth four minutes later, before Ekkelenkamp scored with his first touch, lifting the ball over Manuel Neuer after the underworked Bayern ’keeper saved fellow substitute Stevan Jovetic’s effort.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 23, 2022
Things change: Now it means having to defend yourself against arguments, from strangers and even from your own relatives, that you’re an overpaid and underworked leech.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 1, 2013
“Now get on the wagon before that overfed, underworked horse of ours dies of old age.”
From "Dragonwings" by Laurence Yep
"The cooler ain't never so cold as the morgue," quavered this pulpy nervous underworking last winter on giving himself up on a Federal charge of evading $92,103.34 in taxes on a 1929-31 income of $481,637.35.
From Time Magazine Archive
Reason: Donnelly is believed to be the first underworking on whom has been found money bearing the serial numbers of the Lindbergh ransom money.
From Time Magazine Archive
Obesity comes from overloading the stomach and underworking the body.
From Keeping Fit All the Way by Walter Camp
We misuse the trust if by it we deprive others of health, freedom, joy, hope, or efficiency, for instance, by overworking others and underworking our own children.
From The Social Principles of Jesus by Walter Rauschenbusch
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.
