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

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Etymology

Origin of workshop

First recorded in 1555–65; work + shop

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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

At a workshop near Ukraine’s eastern front, an electronic warfare unit of the Azov Brigade finished work on circuit boards inside a black plastic case, much like those used to store tools.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026

Von Arx, an AI safety researcher, was presenting a workshop in the Bay Area.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026

Dr. Rohmer had announced that he had just completed a three-day workshop on multiculturalism for ed-you-kay-toars.

From "The View From Saturday" by E.L. Konigsburg

Saturday's itinerary varies widely depending on the location, from a music festival in Los Angeles and a march to the Supreme Court in Washington, to family-friendly workshops in Chicago and election observer training in Atlanta.

From Barron's ● Oct. 17, 2026

National fraternities and many colleges and universities have sought to curb the worst excesses of fraternities by banning hazing, curbing drinking and instituting extensive workshops on consent for incoming first-year students.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

I’ve taught it in workshops; I’ve recommended it to aspiring vet-writers who find me on social media.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

The event, which ended Saturday, featured panels and workshops titled “How to build Socially Responsive AI,” “AI in the workplace,” “Can AI Heal Us?” and “Master the Machine.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026

Soon enough, I reached that area of the riverfront known as Smokey Hollow, an industrial labyrinth of factories and workshops.

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros

Under Warsh’s predecessor, Jerome Powell, the two vice chairs helped build support for a policy proposal they workshopped ahead of the meeting, giving markets a read on their thinking.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

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

The musical will be further workshopped later this year, with the team aiming for the first public performances in 2027.

From BBC ● Apr. 21, 2026

One thing I workshopped was this idea, "How do we enter the hummingbird world in this otherworldly way?"

From Salon ● Jan. 9, 2025

In the professional theater world, you would say they have been workshopped.

From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove

In conversations with European leaders he’d known as a central banker, Carney was workshopping proposals to deepen ties that were far ahead of most European officials.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 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

At least Zhao adds scenes that show him workshopping his material.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 25, 2025

Indeed, the administration is already workshopping a version of this argument, noting in Khalil’s case that their enforcement actions are entitled to a “presumption of regularity” by the courts.

From Slate ● Sep. 15, 2025

One recipe I’ve been quietly workshopping in anticipation of cooler weather is a beef-and-mushroom stroganoff with a horseradish cream sauce.

From Salon ● Sep. 2, 2025

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