Word.ws English Dictionary

work

/wɜː(ɹ)k//wɜːk/

work noun: labour, occupation, job.

work: labour, occupation, job
Image: Kostas Vasilatos, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

work (countable and uncountable, plural works)

  1. Labour, occupation, job.
    • 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?c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
  2. The place where one is employed.
    • He hasn’t come home yet; he’s still at work.
  3. (broadly) One's employer.
    • I want to go to the reunion concert, but I'm not sure if my work will give me the time off.
  4. (dated) A factory; a works.
    • In trials of a Martin furnace in a steel work at Remscheiden, Germany, a lining of zirconia was found in good condition after[…]1917, Platers' Guide, page 246
  5. Effort expended on a particular task.
    • Holding a brick over your head is hard work. It takes a lot of work to write a dictionary.
    • 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.2026 May, Julie Coe, “The Rest is History”, in Architectural Digest, volume 83, number 4, page 36
  6. Sustained effort to overcome obstacles and achieve a result.
    • 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.
  7. Something on which effort is expended.
    • There's lots of work waiting for me at the office.
  8. (euphemistic) Cosmetic surgery.
    • has had a lot of work done
    • 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!2025 May 20, Marina Hyde, “Was this a hen do or a humanitarian mission to liberate Paris? Either way, give Lauren Sánchez an award”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
  9. (slang) Prison gang violence.
    • putting in work
  10. A measure of energy expended in moving an object; most commonly, force times distance. No work is done if the object does not move.
    • Work is done against friction to drag a bag along the ground.
    • For quotations using this term, see Citations:work.
  11. (broadly) A measure of energy that is usefully extracted from a process: applied productively.
    • 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.2013 July-August, Lee S. Langston, “The Adaptable Gas Turbine”, in American Scientist
  12. (in-compounds, often, uncountable) The result of a particular manner of production.
    • There's a lot of guesswork involved.
Show 7 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. (in-compounds, often, uncountable) Something produced using the specified material or tool.
    • We've got some paperwork to do before we can get started. The piece was decorated with intricate filigree work.
  2. (countable) A literary, artistic, or intellectual production; a creative work.
    • It is a work of art.
    • the poetic works of Alexander Pope
  3. (countable) A fortification.
    • William the Conqueror fortified many castles, throwing up new ramparts, bastions and all manner of works.
  4. (slang, uncountable) The staging of events to appear as real.
  5. Ore before it is dressed.
  6. (plural, plural-only, slang) The equipment needed to inject a drug (syringes, needles, swabs etc.)
    • 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.1977 [1953], William S. Burroughs, edited by Allen Ginsberg, Junky, Penguin Books, →ISBN, pages 25–26
  7. (LGBTQ slang) The confident attitude of a drag queen.
    • All told, werk is about creativity, virtuosity, and a certain kind of mastery.2018 April 17, madison moore, Fabulous: The Rise of the Beautiful Eccentric, Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 27
    • 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.2022 January 25, Monique Jenkinson, Faux Queen: A Life in Drag, Bywater Books, →ISBN

Verb

work (third-person singular simple present works, present participle working, simple past and past participle worked or (rare, archaic) wrought)

  1. (intransitive) To do a specific task by employing physical or mental powers.
    • 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 5.2018 December 6, Matt Falcus, “16 new airports and terminals we can’t wait to fly into”, in CNN, archived from the original on 25 Apr 2025
    1. (intransitive) Said of one's workplace (building), or one's department, or one's trade (sphere of business) [with in or at].
      • I work in a national park.
      • She works in the human resources department.
    2. (intransitive) Said of one's job title [with as].
      • 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.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXXVII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 287
      • I work as a cleaner.
    3. (intransitive) Said of a company or individual who employs [with for].
      • She works for Microsoft.
      • He works for the President.
    4. (intransitive) General use, said of either fellow employees or instruments or clients [with with].
      • I work closely with my Canadian counterparts.
      • You work with computers, right?
    5. (intransitive, transitive) To be employed or operate in a certain place, area, or speciality.
      • She works the night clubs.
      • The salesman works the Midwest.
    6. (intransitive, transitive) To be employed or operate in, through, or by means of.
      • She's working the phones.
  2. (intransitive) To behave in a certain way when handled
    • This dough does not work easily.
    • The soft metal works well.
  3. (intransitive) To function correctly; to act as intended; to achieve the goal designed for.
    • He pointed at the car and asked, "Does it work"?
    • He looked at the bottle of pain pills, wondering if they would work.
  4. (intransitive) To be appealing; to be approved of.
    • The chef's steak frites just didn't work for me.
    • That shirt doesn't work on her.
  5. (ditransitive, intransitive, poetic) To cause (someone) to feel (something); to do unto somebody (something, whether good or bad).
    • 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!”1885, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, “The Fifth Voyage of Sindbad the Seaman. [Night 557.]”, in A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, now Entituled The...
    • 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."1909, Robert W[illiam] Service, “The Ballad of One-eyed Mike”, in Ballads of a Cheechako, Toronto, Ont.: William Briggs, →OCLC, stanza 12, pages 54–55
  6. (intransitive, obsolete) To hurt; to ache.
    • ‘I wolde hit were so,’ seyde the Kynge, ‘but I may nat stonde, my hede worchys so—’1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XXI
  7. (intransitive, slang, transitive) To pull off; to wear, perform, etc. successfully or to advantage.
    • I would have never thought those pieces would go together, but she is working it like nobody's business.
  8. (intransitive, LGBTQ slang) To perform with a confident attitude, particularly as a drag queen.
    • 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.2020 November 9, Shae Connor, Rough and Tumble, Entangled: Embrace, →ISBN
    • Today, almost three decades later, the sentence, "You better work" from the song is used on a daily basis.2022 February 1, Lindsay Bryde, Tommy Mayberry, RuPedagogies of Realness: Essays on Teaching and Learning with RuPaul's Drag Race, McFarland, →ISBN, page 41
  9. (transitive) To set into action.
    • He worked the levers.
  10. (transitive) To exhaust, by working.
    • The mine was worked until the last scrap of ore had been extracted.
    • 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.1774, Edward Long, chapter 11, in The History of Jamaica. Or, General Survey of the Antient and Modern State of that Island, volume 2, page 240
  11. (transitive) To shape, form, or improve a material.
    • He used pliers to work the wire into shape.
  12. (transitive) To provoke or excite; to influence.
    • The rock musician worked the crowd of young girls into a frenzy.
    • "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."1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 17
Show 13 more meaningsShow fewer meanings
  1. (transitive) To use or manipulate to one’s advantage.
    • She knows how to work the system.
  2. (transitive) To cause to happen or to occur as a consequence.
    • 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.2022, Sawnee Electric Membership Corporation Bylaws, Article III, Section 3.01
  3. (transitive) To force or compel to work.
    • He is working his servants hard.
  4. (figuratively, intransitive, transitive) To influence.
    • They worked on her to join the group.
  5. (transitive) To use intensely and successfully.
    • He worked that basketball like a boss!
  6. (transitive) To be employed at (a job or role).
    • That summer I worked a job at the beach.
  7. (intransitive) To move or progress slowly or with difficulty; to proceed with effort.
    • 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.1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 79
  8. (transitive) To move or progress slowly [with one's way].
    • He worked his way through the crowd.
    • The dye worked its way through.
  9. (transitive) To cause to move slowly or with difficulty.
    • Using some tweezers, she worked the bee sting out of her hand.
    • 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, / […]1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene iv, page 16
  10. (intransitive) To move in an agitated manner.
    • His fingers worked with tension.
    • A ship works in a heavy sea.
  11. (intransitive) To ferment.
  12. (transitive) To cause to ferment.
    • 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.1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “X. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William...
  13. (transitive) To embroider with thread.

Proper noun capitalized: Work

Work (plural Works)

  1. A surname.

work meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

work in Hindi

labour, employment, occupation, job
काम kām, श्रम śram, उद्योग udyog, वृत्ति vŕtti, कार्य kārya, कार kār
effort expended on a particular task
श्रम śram
literary, artistic, or intellectual production
कृति kŕti
intransitive: to do a specific task
काम करना kām karnā

work in Tamil

labour, employment, occupation, job
வேலை vēlai
intransitive: to do a specific task
வேலை செய் vēlai cey
to function correctly; to act as intended; to achieve the goal designed for — see also function, effectuate, run
வேலை செய் vēlai cey

work in Marathi

labour, employment, occupation, job
काम kām
intransitive: to do a specific task
काम करणे kām karṇe

work in Urdu

labour, employment, occupation, job
کام kām
intransitive: to do a specific task
کام کَرْنا kām karnā
More languagesFewer languages
work in Bengali
কাজ kaj, চাকরি cakri, কাজ করা kaj kora
work in Telugu
కూలీపని kūlīpani, ఉద్యోగము udyōgamu, వృత్తి vr̥tti, శ్రమ śrama
work in Malayalam
ജോലി jōli, പണി paṇi, പ്രവർത്തിക്കുക pravaṟttikkuka, അധ്വാനം adhvānaṁ
work in Kannada
ಕೆಲಸ kelasa
work in Punjabi
ਕੰਮ kamm
work in Gujarati
કામ kām, કાજ kāj
work in Odia
କାମ kāma
work in Sanskrit
कर्मन् karman, कार्य kārya
work in Sinhala
වැඩ wæḍa, වැඩ කරනවා wæḍa karanawā
work in Assamese
কাম kam, কাম কৰা kam kora
work in Nepali
चल्नु calnu
work in Pashto
کار kār, کار کول
work in Tagalog
isi, trabaho, himo, magtrabaho
work in Arabic
عَمَل ʕamal, شُغْل šuḡl, خِدْمَة ḵidma, وَظِيفَة waẓīfa
work in Malay
kerja, karya, bekerja
work in Indonesian
kerjaan, pekerjaan, karya, bekerja
work in Persian
کار kâr, شُغْل šoġl, کار کَرْدَن kâr kardan, کَار کَرْدَن kār kardan
work in Thai
งาน ngaan, ผลงาน pǒn-ngaan, ทำงาน tam-ngaan
work in Vietnamese
việc làm, công việc, công, tác phẩm
work in Myanmar
လုပ်အား lup-a:, အလုပ် a.lup, လုပ် lup, အလုပ်လုပ် a.luplup

Examples of work in a sentence

  • He mostly works in logging but sometimes works in carpentry too.
  • She works with the homeless people from the suburbs.
  • My plan didn't work.
  • And in euery worke that he began[…]he did it with all his heart, and prospered.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Chronicles 31:21:
  • Edward Churchill still attended to his work in a hopeless mechanical manner like a sleep-walker who walks safely on a well-known round.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXXIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page...
  • 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.1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, chapter I, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing...

All 40 example sentences with work

Synonyms of work

1 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of work

Forms of work

Noun
pluralworks
alternative formwuhk
alternative formwuk
alternative formwerk
alternative formwerq
alternative form (obsolete)werke
alternative form (obsolete)worke
Verb
third-person singular presentworks
present participleworking
past participleworked
pastworked
past participle (archaic, rare)wrought
past (archaic, rare)wrought
first-person singular past (archaic)wrought
second-person singular present (archaic)workest
second-person singular past (archaic)workedst
second-person singular past (archaic)wrought

Past tense of work: worked

Plural of work: works

Origin of work

From Middle English work, werk, from Old English weorc, from Proto-West Germanic *werk, from Proto-Germanic *werką (“work”), from Proto-Indo-European *wérǵom (“work”), from Proto-Indo-European *werǵ- (“to make”). Cognates Cognate with Scots wark (“work”), North Frisian werk (“work”), Saterland Frisian Wierk (“work”), West Frisian wurk (“work”), Dutch werk (“work”), German Werk (“work”), German Low German Wark (“work”), Luxembourgish Wierk (“work”), Danish værk (“work”), Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish verk (“work”); also Breton ober (“to do, make”), Cornish gul, gwul (“to do, make”), Irish and Scottish Gaelic fearg (“anger”), Manx ferg (“anger”), Pictish ᚒᚏᚏᚐᚉᚈ (urract, “he made”), Welsh gwneud, neud (“to do, make”), Greek έργο (érgo, “work”), Albanian argëtim (“entertainment; fun, pleasure”), argëtoj (“to amuse, entertain”), Lithuanian váržas (“fish snaring net”), Macedonian врша (vrša, “fish-trap”), Polish wiersza (“fish-trap”), Russian and Ukrainian ве́рша (vérša, “fish-trap”), Serbo-Croatian вр̑ша, vȓša (“fish-trap”), Slovak and Slovene vrša (“fish-trap”), Aghwan 𐔱𐕒𐕙𐔵 (borz, “labour, work”), Armenian գործ (gorc, “work”), Northern Kurdish...

From Middle English werken and worchen, from Old English wyrċan and wircan (Mercian), from Proto-Germanic *wurkijaną (“to work”), from Proto-Indo-European *wr̥ǵyéti (“to be working, to be at work”), from the root *werǵ-. Cognate with Old Frisian werka, wirka, Old Saxon wirkian, Low German warken, Dutch werken, Old High German wurken (German wirken, werken and werkeln), Old Norse yrkja and orka, (Swedish yrka and orka), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽 (waurkjan).

Words formed from work

Phrases with work

171 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with work

35 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about work

What does work mean?
Work means labour, occupation, job.
What is work in Hindi?
Work in Hindi is काम (kām), श्रम (śram), उद्योग (udyog). See Work meaning in Hindi.
How do you use work in a sentence?
He mostly works in logging but sometimes works in carpentry too.
What part of speech is work?
Work can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce work?
Work is pronounced /wɜː(ɹ)k/.
What is the plural of work?
The plural of work is works.

Words near work in the dictionary

  1. Worfield
  2. Worgan
  3. Worgans
  4. Worgret
  5. Worimi
  6. work
  7. work around
  8. work at
  9. work away
  10. work back
  11. work backward

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: work (page history and authors); Work (page history and authors); ಕೆಲಸ (Kannada) (page history and authors); કાજ (Gujarati) (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-uk-work.ogg, en-us-work.ogg.

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