What is work?

More definitions of "work":

• (verb): Move into or onto.
  Example: "Work the raisins into the dough"; "the student worked a few jokes into his presentation"; "work the body onto the flatbed truck"

• (verb): Operate in a certain place, area, or specialty.
  Example: "She works the night clubs"; "The salesman works the Midwest"; "This artist works mostly in acrylics"

• (noun): Applying the mind to learning and understanding a subject (especially by reading).
  Example: "Mastering a second language requires a lot of work"
  Synonyms: study

• (verb): Proceed towards a goal or along a path or through an activity.
  Example: "Work your way through every problem or task"; "She was working on her second martini when the guests arrived"; "Start from the bottom and work towards the top"

• (verb): Arrive at a certain condition through repeated motion.
  Example: "The stitches of the hem worked loose after she wore the skirt many times"

• (verb): Cause to operate or function.
  Example: "This pilot works the controls"; "Can you work an electric drill?"

• (verb): Be employed.
  Example: "Do you want to work after the age of 60?"; "She never did any work because she inherited a lot of money"
  Synonyms: do work

• (verb): Cause to undergo fermentation.
  Synonyms: ferment

• (verb): Cause to happen or to occur as a consequence.
  Example: "I cannot work a miracle"
  Synonyms: bring, play, wreak, make for

• (verb): Cause to work.
  Synonyms: put to work

• (verb): Operate in or through.
  Example: "Work the phones"

• (verb): Give a work-out to.
  Example: "Work one's muscles"
  Synonyms: exercise, work out

• (verb): Behave in a certain way when handled.
  Example: "This dough does not work easily"; "The soft metal works well"

• (verb): Find the solution to (a problem or question) or understand the meaning of.
  Example: "Work out your problems with the boss"; "this unpleasant situation isn't going to work itself out"; "He could not work the math problem"
  Synonyms: solve, work out, figure out, puzzle out, lick

• (verb): Shape, form, or improve a material.
  Example: "Work stone into tools"; "work the metal"
  Synonyms: work on, process

• (noun): The occupation for which you are paid.
  Example: "A lot of people are out of work"
  Synonyms: employment

• (noun): A product produced or accomplished through the effort or activity or agency of a person or thing.
  Example: "The symphony was hailed as an ingenious work"; "he was indebted to the pioneering work of John Dewey"; "the work of an active imagination"; "erosion is the work of wind or water over time"
  Synonyms: piece of work

• (verb): Exert oneself by doing mental or physical work for a purpose or out of necessity.
  Example: "I will work hard to improve my grades"; "she worked hard for better living conditions for the poor"

• (verb): Gratify and charm, usually in order to influence.
  Example: "The political candidate worked the crowds"

• (noun): Activity directed toward making or doing something.
  Example: "She checked several points needing further work"

• (verb): Go sour or spoil.
  Synonyms: sour, turn, ferment

• (verb): Have and exert influence or effect.
  Example: "The artist's work influenced the young painter"
  Synonyms: influence, act upon

• (verb): Make something, usually for a specific function.
  Example: "Work the metal into a sword"
  Synonyms: shape, form, mold, mould, forge

• (verb): Use or manipulate to one's advantage.
  Example: "She knows how to work the system"
  Synonyms: exploit

• (verb): Make uniform.
  Example: "Work the clay until it is soft"
  Synonyms: knead

• (verb): Have an effect or outcome; often the one desired or expected.
  Example: "The voting process doesn't work as well as people thought"; "How does your idea work in practice?"; "This method doesn't work"
  Synonyms: act

• (noun): A place where work is done.
  Example: "He arrived at work early today"
  Synonyms: workplace

• (noun): (physics) a manifestation of energy; the transfer of energy from one physical system to another expressed as the product of a force and the distance through which it moves a body in the direction of that force.
  Example: "Work equals force times distance"

• (verb): Perform as expected when applied.
  Example: "This old radio doesn't work anymore"
  Synonyms: function, operate, go, run

• (verb): Prepare for crops.
  Example: "Work the soil"
  Synonyms: cultivate, crop

• (verb): Move in an agitated manner.
  Example: "His fingers worked with tension"

• (noun): The total output of a writer or artist (or a substantial part of it).
  Example: "Picasso's work can be divided into periods"
  Synonyms: oeuvre, body of work

• (verb): Proceed along a path.
  Example: "Work one's way through the crowd"
  Synonyms: make

Famous quotes containing the word work:

“So is the English Parliament provincial. Mere country bumpkins, they betray themselves, when any more important question arises for them to settle, the Irish question, for instance,—the English question why did I not say? Their natures are subdued to what they work in. Their “good breeding” respects only secondary objects.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

“‘Tis not need we know our every thought
Or see the work shop where each mask is wrought
Wherefrom we view the world of box and pit,
Careless of wear, just so the mask shall fit
And serve our jape’s turn for a night or two.”
—Ezra Pound (1885–1972)

“I suspect that American workers have come to lack a work ethic. They do not live by the sweat of their brow.”
—Kiichi Miyazawa (b. 1919)