Word Games Pro Dictionary

work

noun verb

(heading) Employment.

Quick reference

Word Facts

Word length
4
Starts with
W
Ends with
K
Contains
OR
Scrabble score
11
Database source
OEWN 2025 Core

How it sounds

Pronunciation

/wɜːk/ /wɜːk/ /wəik/

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Audio Pronunciation

Audio pronunciation is unavailable for this word.

Meaning

Definitions

noun

  1. (heading) Employment.

  2. (heading) Effort.

  3. Sustained effort to achieve a goal or result, especially overcoming obstacles.

    “We don't have much time. Let's get to work piling up those sandbags.”

  4. (heading) Product; the result of effort.

  5. The staging of events to appear as real.

  6. Ore before it is dressed.

  7. The equipment needed to inject a drug (syringes, needles, swabs etc.)

    “Tell me you're using clean works at least.”

verb

  1. To do a specific task by employing physical or mental powers.

    “He’s working in a bar.”

  2. To effect by gradual degrees.

    “he worked his way through the crowd”

  3. To embroider with thread.

  4. To set into action.

    “He worked the levers.”

  5. To cause to ferment.

  6. To ferment.

  7. To exhaust, by working.

    “The mine was worked until the last scrap of ore had been extracted.”

  8. To shape, form, or improve a material.

    “He used pliers to work the wire into shape.”

  9. To operate in a certain place, area, or speciality.

    “she works the night clubs”

  10. To operate in or through; as, to work the phones.

  11. To provoke or excite; to influence.

    “The rock musician worked the crowd of young girls into a frenzy.”

  12. To use or manipulate to one’s advantage.

    “She knows how to work the system.”

  13. To cause to happen or to occur as a consequence.

    “I cannot work a miracle.”

  14. To cause to work.

    “He is working his servants hard.”

  15. 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; my plan didn’t work”

  16. To influence.

    “They worked on her to join the group.”

  17. To effect by gradual degrees; as, to work into the earth.

  18. To move in an agitated manner.

    “A ship works in a heavy sea.”

  19. To behave in a certain way when handled

    “this dough does not work easily; the soft metal works well”

  20. (with two objects) To cause (someone) to feel (something); to do unto somebody (something, whether good or bad).

  21. To hurt; to ache.

In context

Example Sentences

We don't have much time. Let's get to work piling up those sandbags.
Tell me you're using clean works at least.
He’s working in a bar.
he worked his way through the crowd
He worked the levers.
The mine was worked until the last scrap of ore had been extracted.
He used pliers to work the wire into shape.
she works the night clubs
The rock musician worked the crowd of young girls into a frenzy.
She knows how to work the system.
I cannot work a miracle.
He is working his servants hard.
he pointed at the car and asked, "Does it work"?; he looked at the bottle of pain pills, wondering if they would work; my plan didn’t work
They worked on her to join the group.
A ship works in a heavy sea.
this dough does not work easily; the soft metal works well
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