work noun
1 effort/product of effort
ADJ. hard It’s hard work trying to get him to do a few things for himself. It doesn’t require skill?it’s a matter of sheer hard work. | arduous, back-breaking, challenging, complicated, demanding, difficult, gruelling, intensive, labour-intensive, tiring, tough The show is the product of two years’ intensive work. | rewarding | heavy They employ a couple of young men to do the heavy work. | donkey I did the donkey work (= hard work requiring little skill) but I hired a professional builder for the tricky bits. | light She’s only allowed to do a little light work because of her bad arm. | easy | close I need to wear glasses for close work. | physical | delicate | dangerous | dirty Engine maintenance is dirty work. (figurative) The drugs gang used children to do their dirty work for them. | humdrum, monotonous, repetitive, tedious | fascinating, interesting | purposeful Many unemployed people welcome the chance to do purposeful work, even if unpaid. | valuable The research institute needs funds in order to carry on its valuable work. | paid, unpaid | professional | men’s, women’s They think that looking after children is women’s work. | intellectual, mental | creative, imaginative | practical (see also fieldwork, paperwork) | investigative | undercover The scandal was revealed after months of undercover work by journalists. | leg (also legwork) Her job as a market researcher involves a lot of legwork (= walking around to collect information). | course (also coursework) | written His written work is the best in the class. | individual | group | project | collaborative, joint classroom activities involving collaborative work between children The report is the joint work of an economist and a sociologist. | remedial The poorly designed bridge needs remedial work to make it safe. | background, preliminary, preparatory | follow-up | honest He preferred to make his money from honest work rather than from gambling. | good, nice (informal), outstanding, sterling Nice work, James! I’m impressed.
In accepting the award, she mentioned the sterling work of her assistants. | careful, meticulous, painstaking | poor, shoddy, sloppy | charitable, humanitarian | community, youth | ground-breaking, innovative, pioneering He did pioneering work on microbes. | experimental | academic, commercial, educational, environmental, scientific | building, construction | your own Is this all your own work (= did you do it without help from others)?
QUANT. bit, piece It was an interesting piece of work.
VERB + WORK carry out, do, put in All the construction work was carried out in 2001. I’ve got lots of work to do today. She’s put in a lot of work on the design. | get done, have done I think I’d better try and get some work done. We’re going to have some building work done on the house. | produce Work produced on a word processor tends to look more professional. | get, have We get far too much work at this time of year. | take on, undertake I’ve taken on more work than I’ve got time to do. | create, make Big football matches make a lot of work for the police. | begin, commence, get down to, set about/to, start They began work on the project towards the end of the year. Stop talking and get down to work. We set to work on the outside of the house (= for example, painting it). | go about She went cheerfully about her work. | carry on, continue | complete, finish | halt, hold up, stop Work on the project was halted. | lose They lost the work to a competitor. | undo The new president spent the first year undoing the work of his predecessor. | oversee, supervise The assistant | set sb to She set them to work painting the fence. | require To carry out accurate market research requires a huge amount of work. | hand in We’re supposed to hand in this work tomorrow.
WORK + VERB come The work comes in bursts according to the time of year. | wait That work can wait until tomorrow. | go How’s the work going this morning? | involve sth What does the work involve? | begin, start | continue, go on | come to a standstill Work came to a complete standstill when rumours of redundancies started to circulate. | cost How much will the work cost?
WORK + NOUN ethic | rate Her boss told her she had to increase her work rate. | programme, schedule | surface Work surfaces should be left clear and clean.
PREP. at ~ He’s been hard at work all morning. | ~ on I have to do some work on the engine before it’ll be ready to drive. | ~ with She’s done a lot of work with disadvantaged children.
PHRASES a backlog of work It will take a month to clear the backlog of work. | keep up the good work The hotel manager thanked the staff for their efforts so far and told them to keep up the good work. | your life’s work The art collection was his life’s work. | make light/short work of sth (= to do sth quickly and easily) Mike made short work of fixing the engine. | never/not a stroke of work She never does a stroke of work. | pressure of work Pressure of work forced him to cancel his holiday. | work in progress The showroom has been designed so that people can see work in progress.
2 job
ADJ. lucrative, well paid | badly paid | full-time, part-time | permanent | temporary | regular, steady He hasn’t been in regular work since he left school. | casual In the college vacations he does casual work in the local hospital. | freelance | voluntary | skilled | semi-skilled | unskilled | manual | indoor, outdoor | daily, day-to-day, everyday, routine People went about their daily work despite the war. Ambulance crews alternate between emergency and routine work. | piece It’s piece work, so how much you earn depends on how fast you can work. | administrative, clerical, office, secretarial | managerial | domestic | social | research | agricultural, farm | building | nice (humorous) A hundred grand for two days a week? Nice work if you can get it!
VERB + WORK have He’s got a bit of freelance work at the moment. | look for He got made redundant, so now he’s looking for work again. | find, get Full-time work is hard to find. | go to I go to work on the bus. | go out to Some mothers of young children choose not to go out to work. | start | finish, knock off What time do you finish work? | stop She stops work at the end of this month. | give up Just before he was sixty, he decided to give up work. | go back to, return to She has just returned to work after the birth of her child. | coordinate Sales reps meet up monthly to coordinate their work.
WORK + VERB go Work’s going well at the moment. | start What time does work start in the morning? | finish
WORK + NOUN hours Employees must not make personal calls in work hours. | place (also workplace) | area, environment, room (also workroom) | station (also workstation) | roster, schedule | experience He’s doing a month’s unpaid work experience with an engineering firm. | permit | incentive High income tax can undermine work incentives. | practice An independent report has described some work practices in the industry as old-fashioned.
PREP. at ~ ‘Where’s Diane?’ ‘She’s at work.’ We had a party at work. | in (your) ~ With so much unemployment, I’m lucky to be in work. It’s important to be happy in your work. | off ~ She’s been off work with a bad back since July. | out of ~ He’s been out of work since the factory closed. | through ~ I met him through work.
PHRASES a line of work ‘What line of work are you in?’ ‘Computing.’ | a place of work
3 book/music/art
ADJ. classic, fine, great | definitive, seminal Her book is still considered the definitive work on beetles. | influential | erudite, scholarly | ambitious | literary | dramatic | critical | autobiographical, biographical | artistic | art (also artwork) The artwork in the book is superb. | abstract, figurative, graphic | choral, orchestral, piano | collected, complete the collected works of Stephen King | early | late, mature Picasso’s mature works
QUANT. series | collection, exhibition
VERB + WORK compose, produce, write Beethoven composed his greatest works towards the end of his life. | commission | perform, play | hear, read, see Her work can be seen in most of the major European galleries. | conduct, direct, edit, produce, publish, put on Over the next two years, the theatre is putting on the complete works of Brecht. | display, exhibit, show The town hall is exhibiting works by local artists.
WORK + VERB be called sth, be entitled sth a work entitled ‘Forward Pass’
PREP. in a/the ~ She’s studying the theme of death in the works of Beckett. | ~ by a work by an unknown eighteenth century writer
PHRASES an exhibition of sb’s work The gallery is staging a special exhibition of Monet’s early works. | a work of art/fiction/literature The building is hated by some and considered a work of art by others. (humorous) They discovered that his CV was a complete work of fiction. | a work of genius Her latest novel is a work of genius. > Note at ART
4 (also works) building/repairing
ADJ. extensive, major | road (also roadworks) | maintenance, repair, restoration | demolition
VERB + WORK carry out We are planning to carry out major works on the site. | plan | announce
WORK + VERB continue, go on The works will continue until the end of July.
PREP. at the ~ A contraflow is in operation at the works near Junction 5.
5 works: factory
VERB + WORK open | close (down), shut down
WORK + VERB turn sth out The works at Bury turned out thousands of television sets a week. | open | close (down)
WORK + NOUN foreman, manager, supervisor | canteen
PREP. at the ~ the night shift at the works
work verb
1 do a job/task
ADV. hard He had been working hard all morning. | steadily | round the clock Emergency teams were working round the clock to make the homes secure. | full-time, part-time A lot of mothers choose to work part-time. | efficiently I work more efficiently on my own. | closely, collaboratively, together people who have worked closely together over a period of time | alone, independently | away We worked steadily away all morning.
VERB + WORK continue to | choose to, prefer to I prefer to work as part of a team. | motivate sb to Employees are motivated to work harder for a whole host of different reasons. | enable sb to I needed a job which would enable me to work at home. | refuse to
PREP. as He’s working as a teacher at the moment. | at I’ve spent three hours working at this problem. | for She works for an oil company. | on We are working on plans for a new swimming pool. | with the people you work with
2 function; have a result/effect
ADV. effectively, efficiently, perfectly, properly, satisfactorily, smoothly, well Everything worked very smoothly. | independently My limbs seemed to be working independently of each other.
VERB + WORK seem to PHRASAL VERBS work out
ADV. perfectly, well | badly
PREP. for Things worked out well for Janet in the end.
When we think of the word «work«, we often think of the act of physically laboring in some way. But the word has a range of other meanings as well. We can work at something, for instance, meaning to put effort into it. We can also work out a problem or situation, meaning to find a solution.
One of the best ways to learn the nuances of a word is to learn its collocations. As you know, collocations in English are words that tend to go together, and there are many collocations with work, and by learning them, we can use the word more naturally and accurately. Here are some of the most common collocations with «work«.
- ADJECTIVES + work
- Phrases with WORK
- Prepositions with WORK
- VERBS + work
- List of collocations with WORK in PDF
ADJECTIVES + work
part-time work
Lot’s of students in the UK do some part-time work at the weekends.
full-time work
Is it difficult to find full-time work in your country?
paid work
Many designers complain that people don’t expect them to do paid work.
secretarial/clerical/office work
I’d rather focus on paid work than being a volunteer.
legal work
I let my lawyer take care of all the legal work.
manual work
This job requires quite a bit of manual work.
voluntary/volunteer work
John was considering doing some voluntary work at the weekends.
sb.’s daily work
Everyone used to go to the pub after their daily work.
hard work
Being a teacher these days is hard work.
backbreaking work
After a month of backbreaking work, I was ready to take some days off.
arduous work
The job involved some physically arduous work, especially in the mornings.
heavy work
Being a bricklayer is heavy work – not for everyone!
light work
During my first week at the company I was only given light work to do.
Phrases with WORK
sb.’s line of work
You can’t just take a leave of absence in my line of work.
the work environment
The work environment at the agency was fantastic.
work practices
The manager is constantly trying to implement new work practices.
work ethic
Anyone can find success if they have a strong work ethic.
be out of work
Most of my friends are out of work or stuck in a rut.
a piece of work
My older son is such a piece of work!
have your work cut out (for you)
The hockey team will have their work cut out if they want to succeed in the tournament.
work in progress
The yard is still a work in progress. I guess it will be ready in a month or two.
all work and no play (makes Jack a dull boy)
Take a break, will you? All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy!
make heavy/hard work of sth.
She always made hard work of her assignments by leaving them until the last minute.
make short/light work of sth.
We’ll make light work of this project now that you’ve joined the team.
sth. is in the works
They some plans in the works, but nothing could be made public yet.
a work of art
Stanley’s films are considered important works of art.
get sth. to work
I’ve tried to fix the remote, but I can’t get it to work.
work both ways
We’re willing to negotiate the offer, but it has to work both ways.
work your way to/through sth.
Your parents worked their way through college. Why can’t you do the same?
work sb. hard
The company I work for is infamous for working its employees hard.
work your fingers to the bone
Sheila worked her fingers to the bone renovating her apartment.
work your butt/ass/arse off
Sarah and Jonah work their arses off the whole semester.
it works for me/you/etc.
Work few extra hours today and having tomorrow off? It works for me!
work wonders/miracles
Jane loved her new face cream. It worked wonders on her dry skin!
work sb.’s magic
My dad’s the one who can fix the car by working his magic.
work one’s way up
Lauren managed to work her way up the company in a couple of years.
work sth. out
We need to work out our schedule for tomorrow.
work days/nights/weekends/etc.
I’m so fed up with working nights. I’m exhausted all day!
Prepositions with WORK
at work
Sorry, brother, I’m at work now. I’ll call you later.
work in (a city/area/industry)
Many people who work in London actually live on the outskirts.
work at (an organisation/company)
Rob worked at the same bank for 20 years before getting the axe.
work for (a person/company)
I don’t think I can keep working for my boss any longer.
work as (a profession)
Rachel worked as a teacher until she decided to quit.
work on (a project/task)
The children have been working on a secret project all week.
work under (a person)
Working under Jane hasn’t been easy, but it’s been rewarding.
work towards (a solution/agreement)
The two parties struggled to work towards an agreement.
work against (sth./sb.)
The right-wing party is constantly working against socialist measures.
VERBS + work
start work
He started work as a web developer for an important agency.
look for work/seek work
Beth’s a bit desperate. She’s looking for any kind of work she can do.
find work
It’s impossible to find decent work in this industry.
return to work/go back to work
When do you go back to work?
carry out work
The work was carried out by three office clerks.
do work
I need to go home early. I have some work to do.
set to/get to/get down to work (=start work)
They got down to work early so they could leave sooner.
undertake work
None of the teenagers wanted to undertake voluntary work.
work starts/begins
What time does work begin tomorrow?
work continues
Work continues on most of the house, but the kitchen is finished.
make sth. work
They tried to stay together for the kids, but they couldn’t make it work.
Check this out: Collocations with MAKE
List of collocations with WORK in PDF
If you’re looking for a way to improve your English vocabulary, you should download a list of collocations with work. This list will give you a great bank of words to use in your everyday speech and writing. It can also be helpful for students, as it provides a range of expressions that they can use when talking about work and their jobs. So whether you’re a teacher or a student, make sure to download this list and start using those collocations!
Oh, and don’t forget to keep smiling! 🙂
Work idioms and expressions:
1. a good day’s work
- They finished painting the wall. It was a good day’s work.
2. keep up the good work
- The company boss was pleased with her staff and told them to keep up the good work.
3. a work of art
- The Mona Lisa is a work of art!
4. a work of fiction
- She told many lies. Her story was a work of fiction.
5. a life’s work
- Helping homeless people became his life’s work.
6. make light / short work of something
Something easily done
- I can’t believe you have finished that huge meal...you made light work of it!
7. a backlog of work
work that still needs to be done
- After my two week holiday I returned to a backlog of work!
8. work in progress
the work continues
- The road is closed for repair. The work is in progress.
9. work your fingers to the bone
work very hard
- I worked my fingers to the bone to give my children a good life.
10. work like a dog
work very hard
- My brother worked like a dog to become successful.
11. work for peanuts
work for very little money
- I am sick of working for peanuts!
12. work something out
find a solution to a problem
- Don’t worry, it will all work out.
Idioms for working hard
Work (noun) meaning:
Effort, a product of effort, a task, a job we do
- Learning English can be hard work!
Work collocations:
Here we are going to look at the different collocations of the word work.
So, without further ado (meaning without waiting any longer).
‘Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it’s off to work we go!’ There are different patterns of collocations:
Adjective + Work
1. back-breaking work
very hard, physical work
- Digging the hole was back-breaking work.
2. labour-intensive work
work that is usually done by hands, not by machine
- Making clothes by hand is labour-intensive work.
3. rewarding and challenging work
- Teaching children can be both rewarding and challenging work sometimes.
4. donkey work
hard work requiring no skill
- He told me to move all these bricks. I always get the donkey work!
5. dirty work
- Working in a coal mine is dirty work! (Literal meaning)
- Criminal gangs often get children to do their dirty work like carrying drugs for them (figurative meaning)
6. humdrum
boring, repetitive work
- Shop work can be humdrum sometimes.
7. humanitarian work
work helping people affected by war or famine
- The charity does important humanitarian work with refugees.
Work relating to jobs and study
8. women’s work
- Cooking is not just women’s work!
9. seasonal work
work in busy times of the year
- You can usually find seasonal work in the summer in beach resorts.
10. shift work
work at different times in the day
- Chefs often have to do shift work, cooking lunch and dinners.
11. freelance work
work for yourself selling your expertise to others
- Do you work full-time? No, I do freelance work, so I can work when I want.
12. fieldwork
practical work, often for academic purposes
- For our geography course we went to Iceland to do fieldwork.
13. undercover work
secret work where it is necessary to hide your identity
- The police were not in uniform while doing undercover work.
14. collaborative work
- University departments often do collaborative work to improve scientific research.
Work + noun
15. work ethic
- She has a really good work ethic. She arrives on time and doesn’t stop working all day.
16. work surface
- Put the shopping on the work surface and I’ll put it all away after I’ve had a cup of tea!
17. work schedule
- I’ve printed out the work schedules so that we all know what we have to do.
18. work experience
- It’s good for young people to do a voluntary job to get some work experience.
Work and verb
19. work + go
- The work is going well. I’ve nearly finished.
20. work + start
- What time does work start in the morning?
21. work + finish
- Work finishes around 6 pm.
22. work + involve
- What does office work involve? Lots of paperwork!
23. work + cost
- How much will the work cost on my car?
Verb and work
There are many verbs which collocate with work when we put the verb first.
24. do + work
- I have to do lots of work tonight or my teacher will kill me!
25. have + work
- She has got so much work on at the moment, we never see her!
26. find + work
- I’ve been trying to find work nearer to home so I don’t have to drive too far.
27. get done / have done + work
- We’re going to get work done on the garden this Spring.
Phrasal verbs with work
1. look for + work
- He spent years looking for the right kind of work
2. carry out + work
work was started and completed
- The building work was carried out in the last 100 years.
3. get down to + work
start work
- Please get down to work or you’ll never finish on time.
4. get on with + work
continue working
- The teacher told the students to get on with their work or they would be in trouble!
5. hand in + work
- I didn’t hand in my work on time so the teacher gave me a C instead of a B!
6. take on + work
accept work
- My father was a workaholic- he always took on too much work.
7. go about + work
- The nurses in the hospital always go about their work with smiling faces!
8. set someone to + work
- When Bob said he was bored, his mother set him to work in the garden!
Prepositions before and after work
1. at + work
in the work place
- It is forbidden to smoke at work.
2. in + work
have a job
- In these hard times I am lucky to be in work.
3. off + work
not at work
- After the accident, she was off work for weeks.
4. work + with
- Working with teenagers can be a challenge!
5. work + on
writing a book
- I’m working on a new novel at the moment.
6. work + In
my job is selling things
- ‘What do you do?’ ‘I work in sales’.
Finally….all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy! (if you only work and don’t have a balanced life, you will be very boring). So, it’s time for me to stop work and go and play!
25 Ways to Say “Keep Up The Good Work” 💪 & Meaning 🤓
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Collocations are words that usually go together in English.
Here we are going to look at words that go with the word ‘work’ to make useful and popular expressions you will hear in social and professional contexts.
Work something out
When you ‘work something out,’ you resolve, understand, or discover something through reasoning or calculation. It should not be confused with the noun ‘workout,’ which refers to an exercise session.
Examples
- We need to work out what the final cost of the project will be before committing to it.
- Anna and Patrick have had their differences lately, by they are working them out.
- Why didn’t Steven take that promotion? I just can’t work it out.
Work up to
To ‘work up to’ something means to gradually prepare yourself to do something difficult.
Examples
- You don’t just get off your couch one day and run a marathon. You work up to it by jogging gradually increasing distances every week.
- I’m really nervous about asking my boss for a raise. It’s something I’ve been working up to doing all day!
- When Lisa got up to speak in the meeting, she didn’t just get straight to the point. Instead, she worked up to it slowly.
Work towards something
When you ‘work towards something,’ you do things that help you progress toward a particular goal or achievement.
Examples
- The government assured the public that they intend to work towards a long-term solution to the continuing housing crisis.
- Rebecca has spent the past four years working towards a PhD in engineering.
- James wasn’t just handed a promotion. It was something he worked towards.
Work on something/somebody
If you ‘work on something,’ you spend time producing, improving, or trying to achieve something. If, on the other hand, you ‘work on somebody,’ you spend time trying to influence or persuade somebody to do something.
Examples
- The report will be ready by the end of the day. I’m working on it now.
- I really need to work on my French before I move to Paris next month.
- Kevin worked on Peter for days, and eventually persuaded him to cover his shift this Friday.
Working relationship
A ‘working relationship’ refers to the way in which people or groups within a professional environment interact with each other.
Examples
- In order to improve communication, we need to work on building a better working relationship between the heads of the various departments.
- Our charity has a close working relationship with other similar organizations throughout the country.
- Karl has a good working relationship with his boss. There is a mutual level of trust and respect between them.
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Collocations for «work»Common phrases and expressions where native English speakers use the word «work» in context. WordReference English Collocations © 2023 workⓘMost examples are given in US English. We have labeled exceptions as UK. v
n
n as adj
‘work‘ also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations): |
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