noun
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a man who is employed in manual labour or who works an industrial machine
-
a craftsman of skill as specified
a bad workman
Gender
See -man.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of workman
before 900; Middle English werkman, Old English weorcman. See work, man
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:
That theory gained credence over a decade ago when a workman from the building site contacted Donna after she made an appeal in a local newspaper.
From BBC ● Apr. 23, 2026
He occasionally overburdens the reader with minutiae of political and organizational rivalries and is more workman than stylist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 23, 2026
Navy workman jackets appeared in the lockers of Chargers players.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 13, 2024
To Amy, Danny is a shabby workman who invaded her sanctum, the one she paid for with her own money and barely enjoys.
From Salon ● Apr. 12, 2023
When a workman must come inside, she follows him and hovers.
From "The Adoration of Jenna Fox" by Mary E. Pearson
Standing at the counter next to a crew of workmen, I sipped a latte and munched on a pastry as the smell of espresso and the sound of Italian greetings swirled around me.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 2, 2026
Mack forwarded the case to the director of public prosecutions, but the workmen faced no further action.
From BBC ● Apr. 25, 2026
An over-excited group of fans celebrated the two saves by breaking a pane of glass behind the Kings bench, sending the coaches scurrying and pausing the game for several minutes as workmen repaired the damage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2026
The same word was written again multiple times on Tuesday while white paint was thrown over the picture, with workmen acting quickly to clean it.
From Barron's ● Nov. 4, 2025
One of the workmen told me they were instructed to place the foundation in exactly in the same direction as it had been when it was in Egypt.
From "The (Mostly) True Story of Cleopatra's Needle" by Dan Gutman
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.
