work
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: wûrk
ipa: /wɜː(ɹ)k/
ipa: /wɜːk/
ipa: [wəːk]
ipa: [wəːk]
ipa: [wœːk]
note: Broad Geordie
ipa: [wɔːk]
note: Liverpool
ipa: [wɛːk]
ipa: /wɚːk/
note: Dublin
ipa: [wʊːɹk]
ipa: /wɝk/
ipa: [wɚk]
ipa: /wɜɪ̯k/
ipa: /wɵːk/
ipa: /wøːk/
ipa: [wɚːk]
ipa: [wəɹk]
note: Indic, rhotic
ipa: /wərk/
note: backing after W
ipa: /(w)ɵrk/
note: Indic, non-rhotic
ipa: /wɜ(r)k/
rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)k
Forms: form: works
form: working
form: worked
form: worked
form: wrought
form: wrought
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: work
form: work
form: worked
form: wrought
form: work
form: workest
form: worked
form: workedst
form: wrought
form: works
form: worketh
form: worked
form: wrought
form: work
form: worked
form: wrought
form: work
form: worked
form: wrought
form: work
form: -
form: working
form: worked
form: wrought
form: werke
form: worke
form: wuk
form: werk
form: werq
Etymology: 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).
Senses: examples: text: He's working in a bar.
glosses: To do a specific task by employing physical or mental powers.
examples: text: I work in a national park.
text: She works in the human resources department.
text: He mostly works in logging but sometimes works in carpentry too.
glosses: To do a specific task by employing physical or mental powers.
Said of one's workplace (building), or one's department, or one's trade (sphere of business) [with in or at].
info_templates: extra_data: words: in
at
expansion: [with in or at]
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXXVII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 287:
text: I work as a cleaner.
glosses: To do a specific task by employing physical or mental powers.
Said of one's job title [with as].
info_templates: extra_data: words: as
expansion: [with as]
examples: text: She works for Microsoft.
text: He works for the President.
glosses: To do a specific task by employing physical or mental powers.
Said of a company or individual who employs [with for].
info_templates: extra_data: words: for
expansion: [with for]
examples: text: I work closely with my Canadian counterparts.
text: You work with computers, right?
text: She works with the homeless people from the suburbs.
glosses: To do a specific task by employing physical or mental powers.
General use, said of either fellow employees or instruments or clients [with with].
info_templates: extra_data: words: with
expansion: [with with]
examples: text: She works the night clubs.
text: The salesman works the Midwest.
glosses: To do a specific task by employing physical or mental powers.
To work or operate in a certain place, area, or speciality.
examples: text: She's working the phones.
glosses: To do a specific task by employing physical or mental powers.
To work or operate in, through, or by means of.
examples: text: He pointed at the car and asked, "Does it work"?
text: He looked at the bottle of pain pills, wondering if they would work.
text: My plan didn't work.
text: The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about "creating compelling content", or offering services that let you "stay up to date with what your friends are doing", "share the things you love with the world" and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention. Partly, this is a result of how online advertising has traditionally worked: advertisers pay for clicks, and a click is a click, however it's obtained.
ref: 2013 June 21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, volume 189, number 2, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 08 Jun 2023, page 48:
text: Once again, the WiFi isn't willing to work. When the guard comes to check tickets, I ask him if it ever works. He rolls his eyes and tells me it rarely does. He says I'll be lucky if I get it to connect. I give up trying.
ref: 2025 October 15, 'Mystery Shopper', “About Anglia... and high scores”, in RAIL, number 1046, page 54:
glosses: To function correctly; to act as intended; to achieve the goal designed for.
examples: text: He worked the levers.
glosses: To cause to operate, be productive, behave a certain way, or happen.
To set into action.
examples: text: The mine was worked until the last scrap of ore had been extracted.
text: 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.
ref: 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:
glosses: To cause to operate, be productive, behave a certain way, or happen.
To exhaust, by working.
examples: text: He used pliers to work the wire into shape.
glosses: To cause to operate, be productive, behave a certain way, or happen.
To shape, form, or improve a material.
examples: text: The rock musician worked the crowd of young girls into a frenzy.
text: "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."
ref: 1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 17:
glosses: To cause to operate, be productive, behave a certain way, or happen.
To provoke or excite; to influence.
examples: text: She knows how to work the system.
glosses: To cause to operate, be productive, behave a certain way, or happen.
To use or manipulate to one’s advantage.
examples: text: I cannot work a miracle.
text: 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.
ref: 2022, Sawnee Electric Membership Corporation Bylaws, Article III, Section 3.01:
topics: law
glosses: To cause to operate, be productive, behave a certain way, or happen.
To cause to happen or to occur as a consequence.
examples: text: He is working his servants hard.
glosses: To cause to operate, be productive, behave a certain way, or happen.
To force to work.
examples: text: to work into the earth
glosses: To move or progress slowly or with difficulty.
examples: text: He worked his way through the crowd.
text: The dye worked its way through.
glosses: To move or progress slowly or with difficulty.
To move or progress slowly [with one's way].
info_templates: extra_data: words: one's
way
expansion: [with one's way]
examples: text: Using some tweezers, she worked the bee sting out of her hand.
text: 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, / […]
ref: 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene iv, page 16:
glosses: To cause to move slowly or with difficulty.
glosses: To embroider with thread.
glosses: To ferment.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 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 Lee […], →OCLC, paragraph 992, page 255:
glosses: To cause to ferment.
examples: text: They worked on her to join the group.
glosses: To influence.
examples: text: His fingers worked with tension.
text: A ship works in a heavy sea.
text: Here vex’d with Winter Storms Benacus raves, / Confus’d with working Sands and rolling Waves; / Rough and tumultuous like a Sea it lyes, / So loud the Tempeſt roars, ſo high the Billows riſe.
ref: 1705, J[oseph] Addison, “Brescia, Verona, Padua”, in Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 54:
glosses: To move in an agitated manner.
examples: text: This dough does not work easily.
text: The soft metal works well.
glosses: To behave in a certain way when handled
examples: text: 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!”
ref: 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 Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar edition, volume VI, [London]: […] Burton Club […], →OCLC, pages 51–52:
text: 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."
ref: 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:
glosses: To cause (someone) to feel (something); to do unto somebody (something, whether good or bad).
examples: text: ‘I wolde hit were so,’ seyde the Kynge, ‘but I may nat stonde, my hede worchys so—’
ref: 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book XXI:
glosses: To hurt; to ache.
examples: text: I would have never thought those pieces would go together, but she is working it like nobody's business.
glosses: To pull off; to wear, perform, etc. successfully or to advantage.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 2020 November 9, Shae Connor, Rough and Tumble, Entangled: Embrace, →ISBN:
text: Today, almost three decades later, the sentence, "You better work" from the song is used on a daily basis.
ref: 2022 February 1, Lindsay Bryde, Tommy Mayberry, RuPedagogies of Realness: Essays on Teaching and Learning with RuPaul's Drag Race, McFarland, →ISBN, page 41:
qualifier: LGBTQ slang
glosses: To perform with a confident attitude, particularly as a drag queen.
Derived terms: sense: phrasal verbs derived from work (verb)
word: work at
sense: phrasal verbs derived from work (verb)
word: work away
sense: phrasal verbs derived from work (verb)
word: work back
sense: phrasal verbs derived from work (verb)
word: work off
sense: phrasal verbs derived from work (verb)
word: work on
sense: phrasal verbs derived from work (verb)
word: work out
sense: phrasal verbs derived from work (verb)
word: work over
sense: phrasal verbs derived from work (verb)
word: work through
sense: phrasal verbs derived from work (verb)
word: work together
sense: phrasal verbs derived from work (verb)
word: work up
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: awork
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: bework
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: forework
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: forwork
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: God works in mysterious ways
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: I just work here
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: I only work here
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: only fools and horses work
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: outwork
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: rework
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: so crazy it just might work
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: teamwork makes the dream work
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: the Lord works in mysterious ways
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work around
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: workaround
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work backward
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work both ends against the middle
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work both sides against the middle
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work double tides
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: worker
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work in
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: working
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: working hard or hardly working
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work into the ground
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work it
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work like a beaver
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work like a dog
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work like a dream
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work like a horse
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work like a mule
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work like a nailer
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work like a nigger
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work like a Trojan
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work nights
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work one's buns off
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work oneself to the bone
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work one's fingers to the bone
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work one's guts out
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work one's magic
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work one's passage
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work one's tail off
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work one's way
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work one's way up
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work round
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work someone's arse off
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work someone's ass off
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work someone's butt off
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work someone's tail off
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work the angles
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work the audience
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work the bar
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work the crowd
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work the hole
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work the hyphens
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work the line
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work the oracle
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work the refs
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work the room
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work the system
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work to rule
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work with one's hands
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: work wonders
sense: other terms derived from the work (verb)
word: wouldn't work in an iron lung