Word.ws English Dictionary

make-work

UK/ˈmeɪkwəːk/

make-work noun: an activity or task assigned or undertaken for the sake of activity or busy-ness, rather than because of a particular need.

Noun

make-work (uncountable)

  1. (US) An activity or task assigned or undertaken for the sake of activity or busy-ness, rather than because of a particular need.
    • I once described this rather vulgarly as a Euro-wanking make-work project and I do not resile from that.2011 November 10, Lord Gilbert, House of Lords Hansard
    • They are more sympathetic to immigration, free markets, and free trade, and less sympathetic to protectionism, make-work policies, and government intervention in business.2011, Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Penguin, published 2012, page 802

Forms of make-work

alternative formmakework

Origin of make-work

From make + work.

Questions about make-work

What does make-work mean?
Make-work means an activity or task assigned or undertaken for the sake of activity or busy-ness, rather than because of a particular need.
What part of speech is make-work?
Make-work is a noun.
How do you pronounce make-work?
Make-work is pronounced /ˈmeɪkwəːk/ (UK).

Words near make-work in the dictionary

  1. make-up removers
  2. make-up sex
  3. make-ups
  4. make-weight
  5. make-weights
  6. make-work
  7. makeability
  8. makeable
  9. makeables
  10. makeaway
  11. makeaways

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: make-work (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-make-work.ogg.

Cite this entry: “make-work.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/make-work. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.