Word.ws English Dictionary

works to rule

works to rule is the third-person singular simple present indicative of work to rule.

Meaning of work to rule

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic) To work slowly by strictly following all work rules, usually in a work-to-rule job action, as part of unionized labor protest.

Questions about works to rule

What is works to rule the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Works to rule is the third-person singular simple present indicative of work to rule.

Words near works to rule in the dictionary

  1. works the oracle
  2. works the refs
  3. works the room
  4. works the system
  5. works through
  6. works to rule
  7. works together
  8. works up
  9. works wonders
  10. works-in-process
  11. worksafe

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: works to rule (page history and authors); work to rule (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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