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
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.
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
"I immediately thought of a sci-fi movie where it looked like a troop formation about to attack," Simon Eriksson, a workman from Malmo, told the Swedish state broadcaster.
From BBC • Feb. 19, 2025
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
In 1907, or so it has sometimes been written, Albert Einstein saw a workman fall off a roof and began to think about gravity.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
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.
