work

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“
Two months had already elapsed and the work was at the stage when a destroyer and a practice torpedo boat had been detached from regular duty and placed at his exclusive service The Government was deeply interested in the progress of the work, and had shown it in many ways.

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Definitions (298)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (86)

  1. noun Physical or mental effort or activity directed toward the production or accomplishment of something.
  2. noun A job; employment: looking for work.
  3. noun A trade, profession, or other means of livelihood.
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Examples (50)

  • This work, a book of four hundred to five hundred pages, small octavo, entitled "Oper und Drama," has been ready these six weeks; but as yet none of the publishers to whom I wrote about it has replied, and my expectations at least of gain from this work are therefore very small. —  Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt, Volume 1
  • "Your work is a great work, and the eyes of the religious world are upon you. —  Life of William Carey
  • Two months had already elapsed and the work was at the stage when a destroyer and a practice torpedo boat had been detached from regular duty and placed at his exclusive service The Government was deeply interested in the progress of the work, and had shown it in many ways. —  Prince or Chauffeur? A Story of Newport
  • A horse can perform work, and so can a man; but this work is at bottom the molecular work of the transmuted food and the oxygen of the air. —  Fragments of science, V. 1-2
  • "We want work, and when we get it we'll do it I hope your work will be as good as your assurance," replied the chief engineer, with a slight twinkle in his eyes. —  The Young Engineers in Colorado Or, At Railwood Building in Earnest
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Suggestions Wordniks Suggest

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

service ·  life ·  book ·  system ·  study ·  time

Used in the same contextWord Family

work:   worked ·  working ·  wrought ·  works
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old English weorc; see werg- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English worken, werken, wirken, also assibilated worchen, wurchen, werchen, warchen, wirchen (preterit wrouhte, wrouʒte, wroute, wrohte, worhte, past participle wrought, wroʒt, wroght, wroʒt, wroht), from Anglo-Saxon wyrcan, wircan, wercan (preterit worhte, past participle geworht) = Old Saxon wirkean = OFries. werka, wirtsa = Dutch werken = Middle Low German werken, worken, Low German werken = Old High German wirchen, wurchen, Middle High German wirken, würken, German wirken = Icelandic yrkja (for vyrkja) = Danish virke = Gothic (Moesogothic) waurkjan, work; a secondary verb, associated with the noun work, from a Teutonic √ werk, √ work, = Greek *ἔργειν, perfect ἔοργα, work, ῤέζειν (for *#567ρεγφειν), do (cf. ἔργον, a work, ὄργανον, instrument, organ), = Zend √ vrz, verez, work; cf. Persian warz, gain, profit, habit, etc. From the Greek words of this root are ult. English erg, energy, organ, etc., and the second element in metallurgy, theurgy, etc., chirurgeon, surgeon, etc.
  2. from Middle English work, werk, wure, wore, were, weorc, from Anglo-Saxon weorc, worc, were = Old Saxon OFries. D. werk = Low German wark = Old High German werch, werah, Middle High German were, German werk = Icelandic Swedish verk = Danish værk = Gothic (Moesogothic) ga-waurki; cf. Greek ἔργον, work: see work, v.
 

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/wərk/
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