workshop

American  

[wurk-shop] / ˈwɜrkˌʃɒp /

noun

• workshops
  plural

1. a room, group of rooms, or building in which work, especially mechanical work, is carried on.

2. a seminar, discussion group, or the like, that emphasizes exchange of ideas and the demonstration and application of techniques, skills, etc..

   a theater workshop; an opera workshop.

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verb (used with object)

workshopped, workshopping

1. to experiment with different versions of (a play or other performance), often in a collaborative environment.

   Most comedians workshop their jokes in smaller clubs before adding them to a polished routine.

workshop British  

/ ˈwɜːkˌʃɒp /

noun

1. a room or building in which manufacturing or other forms of manual work are carried on

2. a room in a private dwelling, school, etc, set aside for crafts

3. a group of people engaged in study or work on a creative project or subject

   a music workshop

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verb

1. (tr) to perform (a play) with no costumes, set, or musical accompaniment

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• postworkshop
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• workshops
  plural

Etymology

Origin of workshop

First recorded in 1555–65; work + shop

Explanation

A workshop is a place you go to work. If your mother enjoys carpentry, she might have a workshop in the basement where she can build furniture. Workshops are for making and fixing things like wooden furniture, cars, or mysterious inventions. A shorthand way to refer to a workshop is shop, as in the shop class offered in many high schools, which usually meets in a workshop. The noun workshop also means a course or meeting at which a work in progress — often a story, poem, or script — is discussed by a group of writers.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

workshop workshops workshopped workshopping

The term "artificial intelligence" was born in 1956 at an austere summer workshop at Dartmouth College.

From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026

The music workshop was part of a project between Apple and the King's Trust Creative Labs, and is the latest link-up between the royals and the Californian tech giant.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

He suggested that he return and stage a music workshop or a drum circle.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026

The Leica factory is half high-tech clean room, half old-world workshop.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026

It was in the middle of a busy morning in the shop when Betsie slipped through the workshop door.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

We have begun hosting educational workshops promoting organ donation in memory of an alumnus who was killed—and whose organs have been transplanted in five others.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026

In the last couple of decades, the social justice crusader worked with Angelenos to develop their own voices through writing workshops.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026

Its Music Academy hosted traveling festivals and workshops until 2019, and the company still partners with electronic music festivals, including sponsoring a seven-city Midsummer series this past June.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

The week-long event is marking its 17th year and features classes, workshops, talks, tours and social activities.

From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026

The two main workshops, and those that required the most tools, were the stone cutters’ workshop and the carpenters’ workshop.

From "Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction" by David Macaulay

With his team, he workshopped lines they hoped would be like a bucket of ice water, including a slogan Carney had used before: “Nostalgia is not a strategy.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026

In an unusual step, the script was further workshopped and developed with the cast during rehearsals.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026

Standing up and being counted can't always be workshopped.

From BBC ● May 12, 2026

Raicek has been busy in preproduction on her play “Fire Season,” which has already been workshopped with actors including Billy Crudup and Amanda Seyfried.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026

When Libby and I workshopped our two-person Fiddler on the Roof, for the private performance we put on for her mom right when she started getting sick, I decided to stage the famous Bottle Dance.

From "Better Nate Than Ever" by Tim Federle

He remains a work in progress—Shelton didn’t seriously commit to tennis until his teenage years, workshopping under his father Bryan, an ex-pro and acclaimed college coach at Georgia Tech and Florida.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

A group of bondholders recently met in Washington to present to the world’s top economists and policymakers a proposal they had been workshopping for the past year.

From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026

Markwayne Mullin has a brilliantly dumb idea he’s workshopping.

From Slate ● May 30, 2026

Indeed, Cassidy’s road show, which he’s been workshopping sporadically since 2019, is a songs-and-stories affair in which he looks back on an eventful life he has yet to recount in a book.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2025

“There’s cinnamon swirl, cinnamon raisin. And this one I’ve been workshopping for the girls because they love everything rainbow — funfetti sourdough.”

From Salon ● Aug. 31, 2025

Related Words

• factory
• laboratory
• mill
• plant
• studio