to work
- verb
- /wɜrk/
- In researching this book, I was also trying to work out my own issues of faith.
- work on the problem
- work out the meaning
- work on the solution
How should the penalty, you know, work in these sort of cases?
- How should the penalty, you know, work in these sort of cases?
- I'm, I'm trying to figure out how, you know, Photoshop works, how all this stuff.
- But then when you get introduced, how did that work between you and Luke?
- And the language that we do to work that out is neural language.
- So where does it come from if the laws work the same forward and backward?
- So there's quite a bit to say about how friendship works in misfortune.
Examples
-
I thought I'd let the two of you work it out... come to an understanding.
Fiction book (1992) -
We can work on this, bud, you know?
-
I learned how to make it work, but sort of funny.
-
It's knowing how things work, why they work and what needs to be done.
-
So the challenge has been trying to work that structure for myself.
-
Like how do you make that work in your marriage?
-
Teachers often try to teach students how to use context to work out the meanings of words.
Academic text (2008) -
Teachers often try to teach students how to use context to work out the meanings of words.
-
I thought I'd let the two of you work it out... come to an understanding.
-
Their lawyers, believed to be trying to work out an agreement, did not return phone calls.
Synonyms
To think about something and find an answer or understand it
Spend time and effort improving or finishing something
To find the answer to a problem or puzzle
To find a solution or plan by thinking carefully
To try hard to get better at or finish something over time
To find an answer to a problem by thinking or talking
To deal with a problem, task, or feeling step by step until it is done
To find solutions to difficult situations
To think of a way to solve a problem
To succeed in dealing with a problem or difficulty
To think hard to find the answer to a difficult problem
Idioms
- Informal
Act with different goals so people cannot work well together
- Informal
To put a lot of effort into work and enjoy free time actively
- Informal
A humorous question asking if people do their job a lot or only a little
Phrasal Verbs
- Informal
To move around a party or event and talk to many people to make connections
- Specialized
To shape metal by bending or hitting it at room temperature without heat
Do a simple job slowly or in the wrong way so it is much harder than needed
Compounds
An object like a painting or sculpture that people think is beautiful and made with skill
- Informal
Something impressive but difficult, for example a book or building, and sometimes a person who behaves strangely
- Formal
Official paper that lets a person from another country work in that country for a time
Planned activities by religious people to share their faith and help communities
Work that installs, fixes, or looks after wires and devices that bring power into a building
A system where students do paid part-time work and study to gain experience
A song with a steady beat people sing to make repeating work easier, for example in fields or on ships
A belief that hard work, discipline, and saving money are morally good, often linked to Protestant Christianity
- Archaic
Workers who stay at their workplace and keep working to protest closure or job cuts
- Formal
Official documents that show a person may have a job, often for immigrants or young workers
- Specialized
The job of shaping and joining thin metal sheets to make building parts like vents
- Formal
Friendly relationships between people who work together that can cause problems
- Specialized
A type of metal that stays hard at high temperatures used to make cutting tools like drills
- Specialized
Work done by a person who is not a lawyer to help legal cases, like preparing documents and doing research
- Specialized
Work of designing, making, and fixing metal tools and forms used to make parts
- Informal
A close, supportive colleague you have a personal bond with that is not romantic
How Successfully
Surface Forms
Etymology
Work in phrases like 'work out' comes from the same old weorc meaning 'to do' or 'make', so to work out a problem is to do the steps and effort needed to find the answer.