to work out
950
2.8
- phrasal verb
- /wɜrk aʊt/
:
resolver
- After a long discussion, we were finally able to work out the details of the project.
- work out a solution
- work out the problem
- work out a plan
As far as I can work out, they have two choices.
- As far as I can work out, they have two choices.
- We're going to try and work out the the kinks here.
- So it's very hard to work out exactly what's going on.
- How people can't quite work out that it's fiction is bizarre to me.
- I'm not clever enough to work out how that would happen.
- And maybe we can work something out from that.
- And if so, how do people work out what those ratios should be?
- It's when two people are willing to work things out that it will come to be.
- And so we need to work out reflective equilibrium.
Examples
-
As far as I can work out, they have two choices.
-
Then what I want to do is work out a way to get them out of there.
-
So I have to now work out how to get this on.
-
Yeah, it seems like he is trying to work this out on the fly.
-
Anyway, friend, I was hoping we could work something out.
-
No, we can work this out.
-
Okay, well we can work something out.
-
So it's very hard to work out exactly what's going on.
-
So, I'm sure that there's something we can work out here.
-
Teachers often try to teach students how to use context to work out the meanings of words.
Academic text (2008)
Synonyms
∞
2.2
To think about something and find an answer or understand it
∞
1.3
To find the answer to a problem or puzzle
863
3.3
To think of a plan to get past a problem
152
3.4
To deal with a problem, task, or feeling step by step until it is done
50
3.9
To develop an idea, plan, or design with effort
48
3.2
To make up an idea, plan, or excuse
45
3.9
To plan something carefully before you do it
24
8.0
To succeed in dealing with a problem or difficulty
13
7.3
To invent a clever plan or excuse
4
4.4
To think hard to find the answer to a difficult problem
3
4.8
To think carefully to find an answer to a problem
To think very carefully to find a new idea or solution
To find a plan or solution by thinking carefully
Antonyms
How Well
Surface Forms
Morphology
work + out
The sense 'to exercise' is plausibly connected to 'work' (physical effort) with the particle 'out' adding a sense of exertion or completion, so a learner who knows the constituents could reasonably infer a gym/exercise meaning. However, 'work out' is a polysemous phrasal verb (also meaning 'solve' or 'turn out well') and the exact gym-specific reading is not strictly compositional or universally mirrored across languages, making the connection only partially predictable.
Etymology
Work out can be seen as the image of someone working on a problem until the answer comes 'out' — you 'work' at it until the solution appears. That's why to work out a plan or problem means 'to find a solution'.