grunt work
10
5.3
- noun
- /ɡrʌnt wɜrk/
- Informal
:
trabajo sucio
- In her internship, most of her time was spent on grunt work, like filing papers and answering phones.
- a lot of grunt work
- it's just grunt work
- much of the grunt work
But yeah, I think you develop those skills doing grunt work.
- But yeah, I think you develop those skills doing grunt work.
- Now the Lord's role in that is quite crucial because we do the grunt work for the government.
- And it's a lot of grunt work, OK, But I'm sure you can do it.
- So knowing that a lot of it is sort of this grunt work to start out, what was your over the next few months?
- And you shouldn't be putting any work in or putting any grunt work in to really add to that situation.
Examples
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I feel these are very worthwhile efforts, and I actually volunteer and do grunt work for all of them.
Blog text (20) -
The grunt work of link building and social media just doesn't interest me.
Blog text (9) -
- Just leave me to my grunt work, okay?
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Just let me know when the grunt work's done, okay?
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- Why do I get the grunt work?
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Let her do the grunt work.
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There is no shame in grunt work.
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You get on with the grunt work - and I'll make myself some coffee.
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Second year associates get the grunt work.
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If you're not at the pinnacle of academia, it is a lot of grunt work.
Blog text (13)
Synonyms
195
1.0
A small, boring job you must do at home, like washing dishes
65
4.6
Unpleasant or shameful tasks that other people avoid
13
7.0
Boring, hard work that you do again and again
4
4.2
A boring, tiring routine of everyday work and chores
3
8.1
Simple unpleasant tasks that no one wants to do
1
6.8
Tasks done first, often boring, to prepare and support a larger project
1
9.9
Unpleasant small jobs that no one wants to do
A lot of hard, boring work that others avoid but must be done
A simple, boring job doing small errands and chores
A difficult or boring task someone must do
Antonyms
How Skilled
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'tedious, menial tasks' follows directly from combining 'grunt' (an unskilled, low-ranked worker) with 'work' (job tasks): it literally denotes the kind of work done by grunts, i.e. low-status, routine labor. This straightforward noun+noun compositional pattern is common in English and cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can reasonably infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Grunt work may come from the image of people making a low grunt while doing hard, boring work. That's why it now means 'boring, hard, or routine tasks'.