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to work like crazy

to work like crazy

3 4.8
Try very hard for some time
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : trabajar como loco
  • We had a lot of seniors who worked like crazy, and I respected them for that.
  • work like crazy to get
  • start working like crazy
  • So I worked like crazy

And so it is not my intention to work like crazy.

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Examples

  • For the next six weeks, I worked like crazy to meet the project deadline.

  • I have been working like crazy from home when not running and doing errands.

    Blog text (12)
  • So I start working like crazy to get there.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • Christmas is coming, and for some, it means working like crazy to have the perfect holiday but being too tired to enjoy it.

    Blog text (34)
  • I'm currently working like crazy on a new film.

  • We all worked like crazy two weekends ago and got the job done.

    Blog text (22)
  • But still, we were working like crazy animals, rushing from 6 a.m. to midnight every day.

    Blog text (5)
  • Plus, I've been working like crazy.

  • But we can work like crazy to show the way by preserving and increasing our examples of fair play here at home.

    Blog text (27)
  • You've got to dig deep and work like crazy, and that's when you'll find out what you're really made of during those hard times.

Synonyms

to overwork
vsto work like crazy
15 4.1

To make someone work too much so they become very tired or ill

is extreme hard effort but does not imply others caused the excess
to work one's ass off
vsto work like crazy
  • Offensive
13 8.4

Try very hard for a long time to do something

is similar but can be used more broadly and informally
to work like a dog
vsto work like crazy
  • Informal
8 3.4

Spend a lot of time doing hard, tiring tasks

is intense and sustained but not always emphasizing lack of reward
to work one's fingers to the bone
vsto work like crazy
  • Informal
4 7.4

Do very hard, long jobs until you are very tired

is intense and sustained but may apply beyond physical labour
to work like a horse
vsto work like crazy
  • Informal
1 3.6

To use a lot of energy to do a hard job for a long time

is equally hard but focuses on steady power rather than tiredness
to moil
vsto work like crazy
  • Archaic
1 9.9

To work very hard, often at a physical or long job

is the same hard effort but the key stresses greater intensity or duration
to work to the bone
vsto work like crazy
  • Informal
6.0

To do very hard, long tasks until you are very tired

is intense and long lasting but not always painfully exhausting
to break one's back
vsto work like crazy
  • Informal
6.0

To work very hard at something until you are very tired

is about extreme effort often implying physical suffering rather than general hard toil
to blaze away at
vsto work like crazy
  • Informal
7.1

To work on a task with a lot of energy for a long time

is similar but stresses frantic or prolonged effort rather than quick intensity

Antonyms

816 1.0

To stop activity to relax or sleep and get energy back

496 1.4

To stop doing something for a short time to rest or relax before continuing

How Hard

to slave
47 5.3
to work like crazy
  • Informal
3 4.8
to work like a dog
  • Informal
8 3.4
hard work
355 1.6
work
1.0

Surface Forms

work like crazy infinitive
worked like crazy past participle
working like crazy present participle
works like crazy third person singular

Morphology

work + like + crazy

The meaning is compositionally built from 'work' (to exert effort) plus the simile 'like crazy', where 'like' indicates manner and 'crazy' functions as an intensifier meaning 'extremely'. This standard pattern (do X like crazy = do X very intensely) is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can reliably infer 'work extremely hard'.

Etymology

Work like crazy may come from the image of someone doing work with crazy, wild energy, running and not stopping. That's why it means 'to work extremely hard'.