Word.ws English Dictionary

putting in the work

putting in the work is the present participle and gerund of put in the work.

Meaning of put in the work

Verb

put in the work (third-person singular simple present puts in the work, present participle putting in the work, simple past and past participle put in the work)

  1. (informal) To apply the necessary amount of effort and labor to accomplish something.
  2. (slang, vulgar) To perform oral sex on, especially a male on a female.

Questions about putting in the work

What is putting in the work the present participle and gerund of?
Putting in the work is the present participle and gerund of put in the work.

Words near putting in the work in the dictionary

  1. putting in one's oar
  2. putting in pledge
  3. putting in the ground
  4. putting in the pin
  5. putting in the shade
  6. putting in the work
  7. putting in with
  8. putting in writing
  9. putting into action
  10. putting into context
  11. putting into practice

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: putting in the work (page history and authors); put in the 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.

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