Word.ws English Dictionary

worked over

worked over is the simple past and past participle of work over.

Meaning of work over

Verb

work over (third-person singular simple present works over, present participle working over, simple past and past participle worked over)

  1. (transitive) To improve a prototype, or first draft.
    • The estimated figures are not bad, but somebody will have to work them over.
    Synonyms:
    polish, rework
  2. (idiomatic, slang, transitive) To physically attack in order to cause injury.
    • He'll talk, once we work him over.
    Synonyms:
    beat up
  3. (idiomatic, slang, transitive) To subject (a person) to a severe scolding, interrogation, beating, etc.
    • The desk sergeant worked him over pretty good and finally turned him over to the detective squad.2007, David Rogers, The Printer's Devil, page 175

Questions about worked over

What is worked over the simple past and past participle of?
Worked over is the simple past and past participle of work over.

Words near worked over in the dictionary

  1. worked one's tail off
  2. worked one's way
  3. worked one's way up
  4. worked oneself to the bone
  5. worked out
  6. worked over
  7. worked round
  8. worked someone's arse off
  9. worked someone's ass off
  10. worked someone's butt off
  11. worked someone's tail off

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: worked over (page history and authors); work over (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: “worked over.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/worked_over. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.