Link Centre Dictionary

working

wor·king

UK/ˈwɜːkɪŋ/ US/ˈwɝkɪŋ/ very common
adjective (5) noun (1)

adjective

1.

actively engaged in paid work

  • “the working population”
  • “the ratio of working men to unemployed”
  • “a working mother”
  • “robots can be on the job day and night”
Synonyms
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2.

adequate for practical use; especially sufficient in strength or numbers to accomplish something

  • “the party has a working majority in the House”
  • “a working knowledge of Spanish”
Similar
3.

adopted as a temporary basis for further work

  • “a working draft”
  • “a working hypothesis”
Similar
4.

(of e.g. a machine) performing or capable of performing

  • “in running (or working) order”
  • “a functional set of brakes”
Synonyms
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5.

serving to permit or facilitate further work or activity

  • “discussed the working draft of a peace treaty”
  • “they need working agreements with their neighbor states on interstate projects”
Similar

noun

1.

a mine or quarry that is being or has been worked

Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English workyng, wirkynge, worchinge, werchinge, workinde, wirkand, worchende, wurchende, from Old English wyrċende, from Proto-Germanic *wurkijandz, present participle of Proto-Germanic *wurkijaną (“to work”), equivalent to work + -ing. Compare Scots wirkand, werkand, warkand (“working”), Dutch werkend (“working, acting”), German wirkend (“acting, working”).

Phrases

  • cold working
  • empty stock working
  • even working
  • home working
  • hybrid working
  • leather working
  • permissive working
  • sex working
  • working alive
  • working beam
  • working bee
  • working capital

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.