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workmanlike

or work·man·ly

[wurk-muh n-lahyk]
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adjective
  1. like or befitting a workman.
  2. skillful; well executed: a workmanlike piece of writing.
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Origin of workmanlike

First recorded in 1400–50, workmanlike is from the late Middle English word werkmanlike. See workman, -like
Related formsun·work·man·like, adjectiveun·work·man·ly, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for workmanlike

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • I saw his tiny fat arm rise and fall in a workmanlike manner.

    Falk

    Joseph Conrad

  • He had a job to do, and he went at it in a workmanlike manner.

    Oh, You Tex!

    William Macleod Raine

  • But whoever had gone about the wrecking of the lab had gone about it in a workmanlike way.

    Damned If You Don't

    Gordon Randall Garrett

  • The mixed mortar is then applied with a trowel in a workmanlike manner.

    Concrete Construction

    Halbert P. Gillette

  • As for his actual compositions, he had only the ambition to make them as workmanlike as he could.

    IT and Other Stories

    Gouverneur Morris

British Dictionary definitions for workmanlike

workmanlike

less commonly workmanly (ˈwɜːkmənlɪ)

adjective
  1. appropriate to or befitting a good workman
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for workmanlike

adj.

"efficient, no-nonsense," 1739, from workman (see work (v.)) + -like.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper