Pronunciations (26)
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/wɜː(ɹ)k/
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/wɜːk/
Pronunciation notes
- Received-Pronunciation
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[wəːk]
Pronunciation notes
- Received-Pronunciation
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[wəːk]
Pronunciation notes
- British
- Southern
- Standard
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[wəːk]
Pronunciation notes
- Multicultural-London-English
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[wœːk]
Pronunciation notes
- Multicultural-London-English
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[wɔːk]
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[weːx]
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[wɛːk]
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[wøːk]
Pronunciation notes
- Wales
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[wœːk]
Pronunciation notes
- Wales
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/wʌɾk/
Pronunciation notes
- Scotland
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/wɚːk/
Pronunciation notes
- Ireland
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[wʊːɹk]
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/wɝk/
Pronunciation notes
- General-American
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[wɚk]
Pronunciation notes
- General-American
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/wɜɪ̯k/
Pronunciation notes
- New-York-City
- Southern-US
- dated
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/wɵːk/
Pronunciation notes
- Australia
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/wøːk/
Pronunciation notes
- New-Zealand
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[wɚːk]
Pronunciation notes
- Canada
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[wəɹk]
Pronunciation notes
- Canada
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/ʋərk/
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/(ʋ)ɵrk/
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/ʋɜk/
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/wɔɹk/
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/work/
Noun
Employment. Labour, occupation, job.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
-
She is looking for work.
She is looking for work in the city.
My work involves a lot of travel.
Come on Neriſſa, I haue worke in hand / That you yet know not of; wee'll ſee our husbands / Before they thinke of vs?
More examples (2)
And in euery worke that he began[…]he did it with all his heart, and prospered.
Edward Churchill still attended to his work in a hopeless mechanical manner like a sleep-walker who walks safely on a well-known round. But his Roman collar galled him, his cossack stifled him, his biretta was as uncomfortable as a merry-andrew’s cap and bells.
Employment. The place where one is employed.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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I left my coat at work.
He hasn’t come home yet; he’s still at work.
Employment. One's employer.
Usage- broadly
- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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I want to go to the reunion concert, but I'm not sure if my work will give me the time off.
Employment. A factory; a works.
Usage- Countable
- Dated
- Uncountable
- Examples
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In trials of a Martin furnace in a steel work at Remscheiden, Germany, a lining of zirconia was found in good condition after[…]
Effort. Effort expended on a particular task.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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This task takes a lot of work.
Holding a brick over your head is hard work. It takes a lot of work to write a dictionary.
More examples (1)
Fifteen years of hard work went into the property's creation, which was undertaken by a legion of architects, designers, preservation and restoration experts, engineers, consultants, and artists.
Effort. Sustained effort to overcome obstacles and achieve a result.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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We know what we must do. Let's go to work.
We don't have much time. Let's get to work piling up those sandbags.
More examples (1)
The Bat—they called him the Bat. Like a bat he chose the night hours for his work of rapine; like a bat he struck and vanished, pouncingly, noiselessly; like a bat he never showed himself to the face of the day.
Effort. Something on which effort is expended.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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There's lots of work waiting for me at the office.
Effort. Something on which effort is expended. Cosmetic surgery.
Usage- Countable
- euphemistic
- Uncountable
- Examples
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has had a lot of work done
More examples (1)
Luckily, our eyes have grown accustomed after decades of Botox, fillers and extreme “work” going mainstream, so we don’t notice the weirdness and read it instead as maximum hotness. Thank you, progress!
Effort. Something on which effort is expended. Prison gang violence.
Usage- Countable
- Slang
- Uncountable
- Examples
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putting in work
Effort. A measure of energy expended in moving an object; most commonly, force times distance. No work is done if the object does not move.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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Work is done against friction to drag a bag along the ground.
For quotations using this term, see Citations:work.
Effort. A measure of energy that is usefully extracted from a process: applied productively.
Usage- broadly
- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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More examples (1)
Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo, meaning "vortex", and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform useful work.
Product; the result of effort. The result of a particular manner of production.
Usage- In compounds
- often
- Uncountable
- Examples
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There's a lot of guesswork involved.
Product; the result of effort. Something produced using the specified material or tool.
Usage- In compounds
- often
- Uncountable
- Examples
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We've got some paperwork to do before we can get started. The piece was decorated with intricate filigree work.
Product; the result of effort. A literary, artistic, or intellectual production; a creative work.
Usage- Countable
- Examples
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It is a work of art.
the poetic works of Alexander Pope
More examples (3)
To leaue no Rubs nor Botches in the Worke:
The haſty multitude / Admiring enter'd, and the work ſome praiſe / And ſome the Architect:
“[…] We are engaged in a great work, a treatise on our river fortifications, perhaps? But since when did army officers afford the luxury of amanuenses in this simple republic?[…]”
Product; the result of effort. A fortification.
Usage- Countable
- Examples
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William the Conqueror fortified many castles, throwing up new ramparts, bastions and all manner of works.
The staging of events to appear as real.
Usage- Slang
- Uncountable
Ore before it is dressed.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
The equipment needed to inject a drug (syringes, needles, swabs etc.)
Usage- Countable
- plural
- Plural only
- Slang
- Uncountable
- Examples
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Tell me you're using clean works at least.
He gave me a sour look. “All right is it? Well, you shoot some then.” I cooked up a grain and got out my works ready to take the shot.
More examples (2)
If you buy new works, clean them before using them. If you share works, clean them before you or the next person uses them. Blood may be in your works even if you can't see it. Clean your works either with rubbing alcohol (available in drugstores), a household bleach solution (three tablespoons of bleach in a cup of water), or boiling water.
While in San Francisco, where the AIDS crisis was particularly devastating, they saw numerous public awareness signs reading “Bleach Your Works” posted around the city, urging IV drug users to clean their needles with bleach to help staunch the spread of the disease.
The confident attitude of a drag queen.
Usage- Countable
- Uncountable
- Examples
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All told, werk is about creativity, virtuosity, and a certain kind of mastery.
If the voice coming out of my body is legibly male, it complicates my presence. The work starts to approach that mysterious state of werq.
Verb
To do a specific task by employing physical or mental powers.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
-
He's working in a bar.
The world’s favorite airport and Asian mega-hub, Singapore Changi, is eagerly working towards opening its new Jewel and Terminal 5.
To do a specific task by employing physical or mental powers. Said of one's workplace (building), or one's department, or one's trade (sphere of business) [with in or at].
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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I work at a school.
I work in a national park.
She works in the human resources department.
More examples (1)
He mostly works in logging but sometimes works in carpentry too.
To do a specific task by employing physical or mental powers. Said of one's job title [with as].
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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More examples (1)
This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything.
I work as a cleaner.
To do a specific task by employing physical or mental powers. Said of a company or individual who employs [with for].
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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She works for Microsoft.
He works for the President.
To do a specific task by employing physical or mental powers. General use, said of either fellow employees or instruments or clients [with with].
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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I work closely with my Canadian counterparts.
You work with computers, right?
More examples (1)
She works with the homeless people from the suburbs.
To do a specific task by employing physical or mental powers. To be employed or operate in a certain place, area, or speciality.
Usage- Intransitive
- Transitive
- Examples
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She works the night clubs.
The salesman works the Midwest.
To do a specific task by employing physical or mental powers. To be employed or operate in, through, or by means of.
Usage- Intransitive
- Transitive
- Examples
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She's working the phones.
To be operative in a specified way. To behave in a certain way when handled
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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This dough does not work easily.
The soft metal works well.
To be operative in a specified way. To function correctly; to act as intended; to achieve the goal designed for.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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This plan will work.
He pointed at the car and asked, "Does it work"?
He looked at the bottle of pain pills, wondering if they would work.
More examples (3)
My plan didn't work.
The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about "creating compelling content", or offering services that let you "stay up to date with what your friends are doing", "share the things you love with the world" and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention. Partly, this is a result of how online advertising has traditionally worked: advertisers pay for clicks, and a click is a click, however it's obtained.
Once again, the WiFi isn't willing to work. When the guard comes to check tickets, I ask him if it ever works. He rolls his eyes and tells me it rarely does. He says I'll be lucky if I get it to connect. I give up trying.
To be operative in a specified way. To be appealing; to be approved of.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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The chef's steak frites just didn't work for me.
That shirt doesn't work on her.
To be operative in a specified way. To cause (someone) to feel (something); to do unto somebody (something, whether good or bad).
Usage- Ditransitive
- Intransitive
- Poetic
- Examples
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More examples (2)
And indeed I blamed myself and sore repented me of having taken compassion on him and continued in this condition, suffering fatigue not to be described, till I said to myself, “I wrought him a weal and he requited me with my ill; by Allah, never more will I do any man a service so long as I live!”
So sad it seemed, and its cheek-bones gleamed, and its fingers flicked the shore; / And it lapped and lay in a weary way, and its hands met to implore; / That I gently said: "Poor, restless dead, I would never work you woe; / Though the wrong you rue you can ne'er undo, I forgave you long ago."
To be operative in a specified way. To hurt; to ache.
Usage- Intransitive
- Obsolete
- Examples
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‘I wolde hit were so,’ seyde the Kynge, ‘but I may nat stonde, my hede worchys so—’
To be operative in a specified way. To pull off; to wear, perform, etc. successfully or to advantage.
Usage- Intransitive
- Slang
- Transitive
- Examples
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I would have never thought those pieces would go together, but she is working it like nobody's business.
To be operative in a specified way. To perform with a confident attitude, particularly as a drag queen.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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More examples (1)
Plus, all that gym work means you've got muscles for days. You gotta werk it, babe." She puts a swish and swing into her next few steps before she bursts out laughing, and I have to join in.
Today, almost three decades later, the sentence, "You better work" from the song is used on a daily basis.
To cause to operate, be productive, behave a certain way, or happen. To set into action.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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He worked the levers.
To cause to operate, be productive, behave a certain way, or happen. To exhaust, by working.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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The mine was worked until the last scrap of ore had been extracted.
More examples (1)
They were told of a ſilver mine, that had been worked by the Spaniards, ſomewhere in the Healthſhire Hills, in St. Catharine; but they were not able to diſcover it.
To cause to operate, be productive, behave a certain way, or happen. To shape, form, or improve a material.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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He used pliers to work the wire into shape.
To cause to operate, be productive, behave a certain way, or happen. To provoke or excite; to influence.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
The rock musician worked the crowd of young girls into a frenzy.
More examples (1)
"Still, boozers can be worked sometimes. Most people can, if you encourage their kink. One old woman staked me for three months because she got such a kick out of scandalmongering the neighbours to me."
To cause to operate, be productive, behave a certain way, or happen. To use or manipulate to one’s advantage.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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She knows how to work the system.
To cause to operate, be productive, behave a certain way, or happen. To cause to happen or to occur as a consequence.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
I cannot work a miracle.
Failure to hold the annual meeting, or to otherwise conduct the business of the annual meeting, shall not work a forfeiture or dissolution of the Cooperative.
To cause to operate, be productive, behave a certain way, or happen. To force or compel to work.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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He is working his servants hard.
To cause to operate, be productive, behave a certain way, or happen. To influence.
Usage- Figurative
- Intransitive
- Transitive
- Examples
-
They worked on her to join the group.
To cause to operate, be productive, behave a certain way, or happen. To use intensely and successfully.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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He worked that basketball like a boss!
To cause to operate, be productive, behave a certain way, or happen. To be employed at (a job or role).
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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That summer I worked a job at the beach.
To continue laboriously. To move or progress slowly or with difficulty; to proceed with effort.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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to work into the earth
We worked back again and picked up our intended route, but we did not find the clear run I had hoped for.
To continue laboriously. To move or progress slowly [with one's way].
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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He worked his way through the crowd.
The dye worked its way through.
To continue laboriously. To cause to move slowly or with difficulty.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
-
Using some tweezers, she worked the bee sting out of her hand.
More examples (1)
So the pure limpid Stream, when foul with Stains / Of ruſhing Torrents, and deſcending Rains, / Work’s it ſelf clear, and as it runs, refines; / ’Till by Degrees, the floating Mirrour ſhines, / […]
To continue laboriously. To move in an agitated manner.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
-
His fingers worked with tension.
A ship works in a heavy sea.
More examples (1)
Here vex’d with Winter Storms Benacus raves, / Confus’d with working Sands and rolling Waves; / Rough and tumultuous like a Sea it lyes, / So loud the Tempeſt roars, ſo high the Billows riſe.
To ferment (produce alcohol from sugars). To ferment.
Usage- Intransitive
To ferment (produce alcohol from sugars). To cause to ferment.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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More examples (1)
For Inanimate Things, you may trie the Force of Imagination, vpon Staying the Working of Beere, when the Barme is put in; Or vpon the Comming of Butter, or Cheeſe, after the Cherming, or the Rennet bee put in.
To embroider with thread.
Usage- Transitive
Noun
activity directed toward making or doing something
- Broader terms
- Examples
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she checked several points needing further work
a product produced or accomplished through the effort or activity or agency of a person or thing
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
it is not regarded as one of his more memorable works
the symphony was hailed as an ingenious work
More examples (3)
he was indebted to the pioneering work of John Dewey
the work of an active imagination
erosion is the work of wind or water over time
the occupation for which you are paid
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
he is looking for employment
a lot of people are out of work
applying the mind to learning and understanding a subject (especially by reading)
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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mastering a second language requires a lot of work
no schools offer graduate study in interior design
(physics) a manifestation of energy; the transfer of energy from one physical system to another expressed as the product of a force and the distance through which it moves a body in the direction of that force
- Broader terms
- Examples
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work equals force times distance
a place where work is done
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
he arrived at work early today
the total output of a writer or artist (or a substantial part of it)
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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he studied the entire Wagnerian oeuvre
Picasso's work can be divided into periods
Verb
exert oneself by doing mental or physical work for a purpose or out of necessity; work
- Antonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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I will work hard to improve my grades
she worked hard for better living conditions for the poor
be employed
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
-
Is your husband working again?
My wife never worked
More examples (3)
Do you want to work after the age of 60?
She never did any work because she inherited a lot of money
She works as a waitress to put herself through college
have an effect or outcome; often the one desired or expected
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
The voting process doesn't work as well as people thought
How does your idea work in practice?
More examples (3)
This method doesn't work
The breaks of my new car act quickly
The medicine works only if you take it with a lot of water
perform as expected when applied
- Examples
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The washing machine won't go unless it's plugged in
Does this old car still run well?
More examples (1)
This old radio doesn't work anymore
shape, form, or improve a material
- Broader terms
- Examples
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work stone into tools
process iron
More examples (1)
work the metal
give a workout to
- Broader terms
- Examples
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Some parents exercise their infants
My personal trainer works me hard
More examples (2)
work one's muscles
this puzzle will exercise your mind
proceed along a path
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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work one's way through the crowd
make one's way into the forest
operate in a certain place, area, or specialty
- Examples
-
She works the night clubs
The salesman works the Midwest
More examples (1)
This artist works mostly in acrylics
proceed towards a goal or along a path or through an activity
- Examples
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work your way through every problem or task
She was working on her second martini when the guests arrived
More examples (1)
Start from the bottom and work towards the top
move in an agitated manner
- Examples
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His fingers worked with tension
cause to happen or to occur as a consequence
- Examples
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I cannot work a miracle
wreak havoc
More examples (3)
bring comments
play a joke
The rain brought relief to the drought-stricken area
cause to work
- Synonyms
- Examples
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he is working his servants hard
prepare for crops
- Examples
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Work the soil
cultivate the land
behave in a certain way when handled
- Examples
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This dough does not work easily
The soft metal works well
have and exert influence or effect
- Examples
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The artist's work influenced the young painter
She worked on her friends to support the political candidate
operate in or through
- Examples
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Work the phones
cause to operate or function
- Examples
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This pilot works the controls
Can you work an electric drill?
provoke or excite
- Examples
-
The rock musician worked the crowd of young girls into a frenzy
gratify and charm, usually in order to influence
- Broader terms
- Examples
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the political candidate worked the crowds
make something, usually for a specific function
- Broader terms
- Examples
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She molded the rice balls carefully
Form cylinders from the dough
More examples (2)
shape a figure
Work the metal into a sword
move into or onto
- Examples
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work the raisins into the dough
the student worked a few jokes into his presentation
More examples (1)
work the body onto the flatbed truck
to mix into a homogeneous mass
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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knead dough
work the clay until it is soft
use or manipulate to one's advantage
- Synonyms
- Examples
-
He exploited the new taxation system
She knows how to work the system
More examples (1)
he works his parents for sympathy
find the solution to (a problem or question) or understand the meaning of
- Broader terms
- Examples
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did you solve the problem?
Work out your problems with the boss
More examples (4)
this unpleasant situation isn't going to work itself out
did you figure it out?
Did you puzzle out my meaning?
He could not work the math problem
cause to undergo fermentation
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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We ferment the grapes for a very long time to achieve high alcohol content
The vintner worked the wine in big oak vats
go sour or spoil
- Broader terms
- Examples
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The milk has soured
The wine worked
More examples (1)
The cream has turned — we have to throw it out
arrive at a certain condition through repeated motion
- Examples
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The stitches of the hem worked loose after she wore the skirt many times