workhorse
Syllables: work·horseUK/ˈwɜːkˌhɔːs//ˈwɝkˌhoɹs/
workhorse noun: a horse used primarily for manual labor; a draft/draught horse.
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Noun
workhorse (plural workhorses)
- A horse used primarily for manual labor; a draft/draught horse.
- Synonyms:
- aver, carthorse, draft horse, draught horse
- A person or piece of equipment that performs a lot of work, especially one heavily relied upon to perform consistently and regularly.
- Those old machines are not very glamorous, but even 20 years after their introduction, they are still the workhorses of the industry.
- Captain Harry Kane was the workhorse and creator, while Sterling and Rashford provided the finishing flourishes that put England in dreamland at the interval.2018 October 15, Phil McNulty, “Spain 2-3 England”, in BBC Sport
Synonyms of workhorse
Forms of workhorse
| plural | workhorses |
|---|---|
| alternative form | work horse |
Origin of workhorse
From Middle English werkehorse, equivalent to work + horse.
Questions about workhorse
- What does workhorse mean?
- Workhorse means a horse used primarily for manual labor; a draft/draught horse.
- What part of speech is workhorse?
- Workhorse is a noun.
- How do you pronounce workhorse?
- Workhorse is pronounced /ˈwɜːkˌhɔːs/ (UK).
- What is the plural of workhorse?
- The plural of workhorse is workhorses.
Words near workhorse in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: workhorse (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-workhorse.ogg.
Cite this entry: “workhorse.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/workhorse. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.