make-work
1
8.4
- noun
- /ˈmeɪkˌwɜrk/
:
trabajo inútil
- During the summer, students often engage in make-work activities to fill their time, even though they don't achieve much.
- make-work program
- make-work job
But the great remedy to that is to just keep making work.
- But the great remedy to that is to just keep making work.
Examples
-
Many employees find themselves assigned to make-work tasks that do not contribute to the company's goals.
-
"Yes, there is a small amount of work that has a purpose, but the rest is make-work.
Fiction book (1996) -
Someone who works for the government, unless that work is make-work with no economic value, is not a free-luncher.
Blog text (9) -
Yes, the New Deal WPA programs were make-work projects.
Blog text (31) -
Maybe reopen Solyndra and operate it at a loss, as a make-work project.
Blog text (31) -
Lawyering is one of the make-work activities siphoning off potentially useful citizens.
Blog text (9) -
As Barbi got closer and closer to retirement, he became more and more impatient with what he called "make-work."
Fiction book (1996) -
Until we do, this sort of interrogation and harassment is a make-work program and a fetish for the camouflage car ribbon set.
Blog text (9) -
As my evangelist will tell you in a minute, Mr. Jones, we're not just trying to make this a make-work job like a summer job program; this is to equip these people, give them a shot to end up with a sustainable job they can carry for the rest of their lives and not be living in public housing, making a sustainable wage.
Blog text (31) -
Nothing new or grandiose, merely an attempt to combine a make-work program with the rebuilding of a lower-energy (but not truly long-term sustainable) transportation network.
Blog text (15)
Synonyms
126
2.7
An activity that takes time but does not help you
14
9.9
Work that looks useful but wastes time or money
4
3.9
An activity that uses your time but does not help you
3
6.3
Tasks that keep you busy but have little real value
1
3.8
An action that uses time and energy but gives no useful result
How Useful
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Make-work comes from the simple idea of make + work — literally 'to create work', like a boss giving small jobs just to keep people busy. That's why make-work means jobs or tasks done mainly to keep someone busy rather than to produce a useful result.