work
noun
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Trivia Time
In physics, what unit measures work?
work
1 American
[wurk]
/ wɜrk /
noun
-
works
plural
-
exertion or effort directed to produce or accomplish something; labor; toil.
-
productive or operative activity.
- Synonyms:
- business, occupation, industry
-
employment, as in some form of industry, especially as a means of earning one's livelihood.
to look for work.
- Synonyms:
- profession, vocation, calling, trade, job
-
one's place of employment.
Don't phone him at work.
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something on which exertion or labor is expended; a task or undertaking.
The students finished their work in class.
- Synonyms:
- responsibility, job, assignment, enterprise
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materials, things, etc., on which one is working or is to work.
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the result of exertion, labor, or activity; a deed or performance.
- Synonyms:
- feat, achievement, product
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a product of exertion, labor, or activity.
musical works.
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Often works. an engineering structure, as a building or bridge.
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a building, wall, trench, or the like, constructed or made as a means of fortification.
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works,
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(used with a singular or plural verb) a place or establishment for manufacturing (often used in combination).
ironworks.
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the working parts of a machine.
the works of a watch.
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Theology. righteous deeds.
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Physics. force times the distance through which it acts; specifically, the transference of energy equal to the product of the component of a force that acts in the direction of the motion of the point of application of the force and the distance through which the point of application moves.
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Informal. the works,
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everything; all related items or matters.
a hamburger with the works.
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harsh or cruel treatment.
to give someone the works.
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adjective
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of, for, or concerning work.
work clothes.
verb (used without object)
-
works,
present (3rd person singular)
-
worked,
past participle, past
-
wrought,
past participle, past (Archaic)
-
working
present participle
-
to do work; labor.
-
to be employed, especially as a means of earning one's livelihood.
He hasn't worked for six weeks.
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to be in operation, as a machine.
The water should not be disconnected while the pump is working.
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to act or operate effectively.
We all agree that this plan works.
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to attain a specified condition, as by repeated movement.
The nails worked loose.
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to have an effect or influence, as on a person or on the mind or feelings of a person.
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to move in agitation, as the features under strong emotion.
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to make way with effort or under stress.
The ship works to windward.
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Nautical. to give slightly at the joints, as a vessel under strain at sea.
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Machinery. to move improperly, as from defective fitting of parts or from wear.
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to undergo treatment by labor in a given way.
This dough works slowly.
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to ferment, as a liquid.
verb (used with object)
-
works,
present (3rd person singular)
-
worked,
past participle, past
-
wrought,
past participle, past (Archaic)
-
working
present participle
-
to use or manage (an apparatus, contrivance, etc.).
It is easy to work the camera in this mobile device.
She can work many power tools.
- Synonyms:
- handle, manipulate, operate
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to bring about (any result) by or as by work or effort.
to work a change.
- Synonyms:
- achieve, produce, effect, accomplish
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to manipulate or treat by labor.
to work butter.
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to put into effective operation.
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to operate (a mine, farm, etc.) for productive purposes.
to work a coal mine.
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to carry on operations in (a district or region).
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to make, fashion, or execute by work.
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to achieve or win by work or effort.
to work one's passage.
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to keep (a person, a horse, etc.) at work.
She works her employees hard.
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to cause a strong emotion in.
to work a crowd into a frenzy.
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to influence or persuade, especially insidiously.
to work other people to one's will.
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Informal. to exploit (someone or something) to one's advantage.
See if you can work your uncle for a new car. He worked his charm in landing a new job.
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to make or decorate by needlework or embroidery.
She worked a needlepoint cushion.
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to cause fermentation in.
verb phrase
-
work on / upon to exercise influence on; persuade; affect.
I'll work on her, and maybe she'll change her mind.
-
work up
-
to move or stir the feelings; excite.
-
to prepare; elaborate.
Work up some plans.
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to increase in efficiency or skill.
He worked up his typing speed to 70 words a minute.
-
-
work up to rise to a higher position; advance.
He worked up to the presidency.
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work out
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to bring about by work, effort, or action.
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to solve, as a problem.
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to arrive at by or as by calculation.
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to pay (a debt) by working instead of paying money.
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to exhaust, as a mine.
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to issue in a result.
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to evolve; elaborate.
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to amount to (a total or specified figure); add up (to).
The total works out to 176.
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to prove effective or successful.
Their marriage just didn't work out.
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to practice, exercise, or train, especially in order to become proficient in an athletic sport.
The boxers are working out at the gym tonight.
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work over
-
to study or examine thoroughly.
For my term paper I worked over 30 volumes of Roman history.
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Informal. to beat unsparingly, especially in order to obtain something or out of revenge.
They threatened to work him over until he talked.
-
-
work in / into
-
to bring or put in; add, merge, or blend.
The tailor worked in the patch skillfully. Work the cream into the hands until it is completely absorbed.
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to arrange a time or employment for.
The dentist was very busy, but said she would be able to work me in late in the afternoon. They worked him into the new operation.
-
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work off
-
to lose or dispose of, as by exercise or labor.
We decided to work off the effects of a heavy supper by walking for an hour.
-
to pay or fulfill by working.
He worked off his debt by doing odd jobs.
-
-
work through to deal with successfully; come to terms with.
to work through one's feelings of guilt.
idioms
-
shoot the works, to spend all one's resources.
Let's shoot the works and order the crêpes suzette.
-
out of work, unemployed; jobless.
Many people in the area were out of work.
-
make short work of, to finish or dispose of quickly.
We made short work of the chocolate layer cake.
-
at work,
-
working, as at one's job.
He's at work on a new novel.
-
in action or operation.
to see the machines at work.
-
-
work it,
-
to arrange something.
I'll try to work it so that we can all travel together.
-
to show off one’s body or clothing to best effect, often through movement or posing.
The models were working it on the runway.
Work it on the dance floor, baby!
-
-
gum up the works, to spoil something, as through blundering or stupidity.
The surprise party was all arranged, but her little brother gummed up the works and told her.
-
in the works, in preparation or being planned.
A musical version of the book is in the works.
Work
2
American
[wurk]
/ wɜrk /
noun
work
British
/ wɜːk /
noun
-
physical or mental effort directed towards doing or making something
-
paid employment at a job or a trade, occupation, or profession
-
a duty, task, or undertaking
-
something done, made, etc, as a result of effort or exertion
a work of art
-
materials or tasks on which to expend effort or exertion
-
another word for workmanship
-
the place, office, etc, where a person is employed
-
any piece of material that is undergoing a manufacturing operation or process; workpiece
-
-
decoration or ornamentation, esp of a specified kind
-
( in combination )
wirework
woolwork
-
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an engineering structure such as a bridge, building, etc
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Abbreviation: W, w. physics the transfer of energy expressed as the product of a force and the distance through which its point of application moves in the direction of the force
-
a structure, wall, etc, built or used as part of a fortification system
-
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at one's job or place of employment
-
in action; operating
-
-
informal to handle or dispose of very quickly
-
(modifier) of, relating to, or used for work
work clothes
a work permit
verb
-
(intr) to exert effort in order to do, make, or perform something
-
(intr) to be employed
-
(tr) to carry on operations, activity, etc, in (a place or area)
that salesman works the southern region
-
(tr) to cause to labour or toil
he works his men hard
-
to operate or cause to operate, esp properly or effectively
to work a lathe
that clock doesn't work
-
(tr) to till or cultivate (land)
-
to handle or manipulate or be handled or manipulated
to work dough
-
to shape, form, or process or be shaped, formed, or processed
to work copper
-
to reach or cause to reach a specific condition, esp gradually
the rope worked loose
-
(tr) to solve (a mathematical problem)
-
(intr) to move in agitation
his face worked with anger
-
to provoke or arouse
to work someone into a frenzy
-
(tr) to effect or accomplish
to work one's revenge
-
to make (one's way) with effort
he worked his way through the crowd
-
(tr) to make or decorate by hand in embroidery, tapestry, etc
she was working a sampler
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(intr) (of a mechanism) to move in a loose or otherwise imperfect fashion
-
(intr) (of liquids) to ferment, as in brewing
-
informal (tr) to manipulate or exploit to one's own advantage
-
slang (tr) to cheat or swindle
work
Scientific
/ wûrk /
-
The transfer of energy from one object to another, especially in order to make the second object move in a certain direction. Work is equal to the amount of force multiplied by the distance over which it is applied. If a force of 10 newtons, for example, is applied over a distance of 3 meters, the work is equal to 30 newtons per meter, or 30 joules. The unit for measuring work is the same as that for energy in any system of units, since work is simply a transfer of energy.
work
Cultural
work
More Idioms
Usage
What are other ways to say work? The noun work refers to the exertion or effort directed to produce or accomplish something. When should you use work instead of drudgery, labor, or toil? Find out on Thesaurus.com.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
worksimple
-
workssimple
-
have workedperfect
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have wroughtperfect
-
has workedperfect
-
has wroughtperfect
-
am workingprogressive
-
are workingprogressive
-
is workingprogressive
-
have been workingperfect progressive
-
has been workingperfect progressive
Past
-
workedsimple
-
wroughtsimple
-
had workedperfect
-
had wroughtperfect
-
was workingprogressive
-
were workingprogressive
-
had been workingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of work
First recorded before 900; (noun) Middle English worke, Old English worc, replacing Middle English werk(e), Old English weorc, cognate with Old Frisian, Old Saxon werk, Old High German werah, werc ( German Werk ), Old Norse verk, Greek érgon; (verb) Middle English worken, derivative of the noun, replacing Middle English wyrchen, Old English wyrcean; cognate with German wirken, Old Norse verkja, Gothic waurkjan
Explanation
The word work has many shades of meaning, but most involve putting in an effort of some sort. You're not going to become an Olympic ice skater overnight. You'll need to do a serious amount of work to get there. When you say you have to go to work, work is a noun meaning your workplace. The actual tasks you perform at your workplace — what you get paid for — are also called work. Your work might consist of answering the phone or baking bread or doing the accounting. Work can also be a verb describing doing some kind of activity, often one associated with your job. It's a bummer to work on Saturday when you already worked all week.
Vocabulary lists containing work
Word Generation Science - Energy
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Force and Motion (Mechanics) - Middle School
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Force and Motion (Mechanics) - Introductory
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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.
See Examples For:
But the AI era is pushing the tech industry’s work ethos to new, more visible heights.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026
“I do not believe that lobbying for that job would have been successful, and I wanted to work for it. I wanted to audition for it.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026
After they met through work, there were too many flowers, too many phone calls, too much interest in where she was.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026
"We didn't see this coming, like having tourists coming, having researchers, students from universities coming. So we're proud of the work."
From Barron's ● Oct. 17, 2026
Ushers work mostly at night, guiding patrons to their seats in the sprawling concert hall.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
"Work like this shows the exceptional value of working with historical museum collections where there are still many discoveries to be made."
From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026
Work crews were still on site Wednesday afternoon, and it was still unclear when service would resume, or when the road would reopen.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026
Work hard, buy an apartment, climb the economic ladder and stay out of politics.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
Work is beginning on bringing a train station back to the heart of a Greater Manchester village more than a century after its original station closed.
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026
Work is supposed to save you from being an “outcast,” as Pete puts it, but what we do is an outcast’s work, invisible and even disgusting.
From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich
Alex Cancado, who spent years in visual effects and has worked on over 80 movies, now works in the AI Studios division of Amazon MGM Studios.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is expanding rocket production in Florida as it works to challenge SpaceX’s launch business.
From Barron's ● Oct. 17, 2026
Overall, the analysts see the increases as a positive signal that long-awaited price increases are actually in the works.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
It is bigger than me, bigger than any player, or anyone else who works at this football club.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
She works at a school during the year, and she’s teaching music classes and lessons over at the community center this summer.”
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
Croick and Dieffenbach worked via Zoom to study schemes, installations and the skills it took to play under center.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
Though Enlightenment philosophers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau worked to rehabilitate their reputation, cats would continue to attract public ire through the 18th century.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
The panel also found Burwood acted dishonestly by failing to tell her employer she held financial lasting power of attorney for a resident at the care home where she worked.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
One of us worked side-by-side with Fed officials for a number of years on ways to augment the dot plot.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
A brown wren worked on a nest in the roof’s thatching.
From "Nory Ryan’s Song" by Patricia Reilly Giff
Powerful waves thrashed communities along California's southern coast Friday, damaging homes and sending water cascading through streets as residents braced for more potential damage wrought by Tropical Storm Rachel.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
Alice’s humanity is defined by her total rejection of the manufactured digital world and the havoc its creators wrought.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026
He largely espouses esoteric prognostications of how 8 billion human deaths could be wrought by hostile machines, and even though many that admit this outcome is unlikely, it takes up a lot of their attention.
From Slate ● Sep. 15, 2026
Reeling from these two fat books, I pulled from the shelves Peter Ackroyd’s 1983 novel, “The Last Testament of Oscar Wilde”—densely wrought, impressionistic and all wrapped up in about 180 pages.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
The entry doors are made of wrought iron and glass, and just past them, marble columns and impressive oil paintings of bearded white men line the hallways.
From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland
Building a squad on a foundation of counter-pressing feels apt for Matos when you consider the time he spent working under Klopp.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026
A job listing for chief of staff to Khosla Ventures founder Vinod Khosla requires working in person 12 hours a day and being available 24/7.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026
Lambert’s family said that working at Silver Rail Elementary was her dream job.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
Mejia demanded the information, much of which was also requested by The Times, as required in the 2021 contract that defines the working relationship between LA28 and the host city of the 2028 games.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
Now that I’ve shaved a tenth of a second off my time, I’m working on the next tenth.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
