wet work
wet work noun: a covert assassination performed by government operatives.
Noun (1)
wet work (uncountable)
- A covert assassination performed by government operatives.
- Joe: Victoria was the best wet work operator the Agency ever had.
Woman 1: What does that mean?
Victoria: I killed people, dearie.2010, RED
- Joe: Victoria was the best wet work operator the Agency ever had.
- Work within a gang or organization that involves killing or attacking people, for assassination or intimidation.
- He had also done a lot of Louis Deems' wet work, especially when it came to intimidating juries.2009, Dana Stabenow, Whisper to the Blood, →ISBN, page 132
Noun (2)
wet work (plural wet work)
- Cleaning tasks that involve scrubbing with cleansers.
- Most of the time I clean with A.J. or another coworker, who vacuums while I do the wet work—bathrooms and kitchens.2011, Autumn Stephens, Roar Softly and Carry a Great Lipstick, →ISBN
Forms of wet work
| alternative form | wetwork |
|---|---|
| plural | wet work |
Origin of wet work
Calque of Russian мо́крое де́ло (mókroje délo).
wet + work
Questions about wet work
- What does wet work mean?
- Wet work means a covert assassination performed by government operatives.
- What part of speech is wet work?
- Wet work is a noun.
- What is the plural of wet work?
- The plural of wet work is wet work.
Words near wet work in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: wet 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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-wet work.wav.
Cite this entry: “wet work.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/wet_work. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.