(~s, ~ing, ~ed)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
People who ~ have a job, usually one which they are paid to do.
Weiner ~s for the US Department of Transport...
I started ~ing in a recording studio...
Where do you ~?...
He ~ed as a bricklayer’s mate...
I want to ~, I don’t want to be on welfare.
VERB: V prep/adv, V prep/adv, V prep/adv, V as n, V
2.
People who have ~ or who are in ~ have a job, usually one which they are paid to do.
Fewer and fewer people are in ~...
I was out of ~ at the time...
She’d have enough money to provide for her children until she could find ~...
N-UNCOUNT: oft in/out of N
3.
When you ~, you do the things that you are paid or required to do in your job.
I can’t talk to you right now–I’m ~ing...
He was ~ing at his desk...
Some firms expect the guards to ~ twelve hours a day.
VERB: V, V, V n
4.
Your ~ consists of the things you are paid or required to do in your job.
We’re supposed to be running a business here. I’ve got ~ to do...
I used to take ~ home, but I don’t do it any more...
There have been days when I have finished ~ at 2pm.
N-UNCOUNT
5.
When you ~, you spend time and effort doing a task that needs to be done or trying to achieve something.
Linda spends all her time ~ing on the garden...
The most important reason for coming to university is to ~ for a degree...
The government expressed hope that all the sides will ~ towards a political solution.
VERB: V prep, V prep, V prep
•
Work is also a noun.
There was a lot of ~ to do on their house...
We hadn’t appreciated how much ~ was involved in organizing a wedding...
N-UNCOUNT
6.
Work is the place where you do your job.
Many people travel to ~ by car...
She told her friends at ~ that she was trying to lose weight.
N-UNCOUNT: usu to/at N
7.
Work is something which you produce as a result of an activity or as a result of doing your job.
It can help to have an impartial third party look over your ~...
Tidiness in the ~shop is really essential for producing good ~...
N-UNCOUNT: oft poss/adj N
8.
A ~ is something such as a painting, book, or piece of music produced by an artist, writer, or composer.
In my opinion, this is Rembrandt’s greatest ~...
N-COUNT: usu with supp
9.
If someone is ~ing on a particular subject or question, they are studying or researching it.
Professor Bonnet has been ~ing for many years on molecules of this type.
VERB: V on n
•
Work is also a noun.
Their ~ shows that one-year-olds are much more likely to have allergies if either parent smokes.
N-UNCOUNT
10.
If you ~ with a person or a group of people, you spend time and effort trying to help them in some way.
She spent a period of time ~ing with people dying of cancer...
VERB: V with/among n
•
Work is also a noun.
She became involved in social and relief ~ among the refugees.
N-UNCOUNT: with supp, usu poss N, N with/among n
11.
If a machine or piece of equipment ~s, it operates and performs a particular function.
The pump doesn’t ~ and we have no running water...
VERB: V
12.
If an idea, system, or way of doing something ~s, it is successful, effective, or satisfactory.
95 per cent of these diets do not ~...
A methodical approach ~s best.
VERB: V, V adv
13.
If a drug or medicine ~s, it produces a particular physical effect.
I wake at 6am as the sleeping pill doesn’t ~ for more than nine hours...
The drug ~s by increasing levels of serotonin in the brain.
VERB: V, V prep/adv
14.
If something ~s in your favour, it helps you in some way. If something ~s to your disadvantage, it causes problems for you in some way.
One factor thought to have ~ed in his favour is his ~ing class image...
VERB: V prep
15.
If something or someone ~s their magic or ~s their charms on a person, they have a powerful positive effect on them.
Nevertheless, she is always optimistic about the possibilities and can ~ her charm on the disenchanted...
VERB: V n on n
16.
If your mind or brain is ~ing, you are thinking about something or trying to solve a problem.
My mind was ~ing frantically, running over the events of the evening.
VERB: V
17.
If you ~ on an assumption or idea, you act as if it were true or base other ideas on it, until you have more information.
We are ~ing on the assumption that it was a gas explosion.
VERB: V on n
18.
If you ~ a particular area or type of place, you travel around that area or ~ in those places as part of your job, for example trying to sell something there.
Brand has been ~ing the clubs and the pubs since 1986, developing her comedy act...
VERB: V n
19.
If you ~ someone, you make them spend time and effort doing a particular activity or job.
They’re ~ing me too hard. I’m too old for this...
VERB: V n adv/prep
20.
If someone, often a politician or entertainer, ~s a crowd, they create a good relationship with the people in the crowd and get their support or interest.
The Prime Minister has an ability to ~ a crowd–some might even suggest it is a kind of charm...
VERB: V n
21.
When people ~ the land, they do all the tasks involved in growing crops.
Farmers ~ed the fertile valleys.
VERB: V n
22.
When a mine is ~ed, minerals such as coal or gold are removed from it.
The mines had first been ~ed in 1849, when gold was discovered in California...
VERB: be V-ed
23.
If you ~ a machine or piece of equipment, you use or control it.
Many adults still depend on their children to ~ the video.
= operate
VERB: V n
24.
If something ~s into a particular state or condition, it gradually moves so that it is in that state or condition.
A screw had ~ed loose from my glasses.
VERB: V adj
25.
If you ~ a substance such as dough or clay, you keep pressing it to make it have a particular texture.
Work the dough with the palm of your hand until it is very smooth...
VERB: V n
26.
If you ~ a material such as metal, leather, or stone, you cut, sew, or shape it in order to make something or to create a design.
...the machines needed to extract and ~ the raw stone.
VERB: V n
27.
If you ~ a part of your body, or if it ~s, you move it.
Each position will ~ the muscles in a different way...
Her mouth was ~ing in her sleep.
VERB: V n, V
28.
A ~s is a place where something is manufactured or where an industrial process is carried out. Works is used to refer to one or to more than one of these places.
The steel ~s could be seen for miles.
N-COUNT-COLL: usu n N, N n
29.
Works are activities such as digging the ground or building on a large scale.
...six years of disruptive building ~s, road construction and urban development.
N-PLURAL: usu supp N
30.
see also ~ing
31.
If someone is at ~ they are doing their job or are busy doing a particular activity.
The salvage teams are already hard at ~ trying to deal with the spilled oil...
Television cameras were invited in to film him at ~.
PHRASE: usu v-link PHR
32.
If a force or process is at ~, it is having a particular influence or effect.
It is important to understand the powerful economic and social forces at ~ behind our own actions.
PHRASE: usu v-link PHR
33.
If you say that you will have your ~ cut out to do something, you mean that it will be a very difficult task.
The new administration has its ~ cut out for it. Creating jobs in this kind of environment is not going to be easy...
He will have his ~ cut out to get into the team.
PHRASE: V inflects, oft PHR for n, PHR to-inf
34.
If something is in the ~s, it has already been planned or begun. (mainly AM; in BRIT, usually use in the pipeline )
He said there were dozens of economic plans in the ~s...
PHRASE: usu n PHR, v-link PHR
35.
You can use ~ to talk about how easily or quickly a particular task is done. For example, if a person or thing makes short ~ of doing something or makes light ~ of it, they do it quickly and easily.
An aerosol spray will make short ~ of painting awkward objects...
This horse made light ~ of the cross-country course...
PHRASE: V inflects, PHR -ing/n
36.
If you put someone to ~ or set them to ~, you give them a job or task to do.
By stimulating the economy, we’re going to put people to ~...
Instead of sending them to prison, we have set them to ~ helping the lemon growers.
PHRASE: V inflects, oft PHR prep, PHR -ing
37.
If you get to ~, go to ~, or set to ~ on a job, task, or problem, you start doing it or dealing with it.
He promised to get to ~ on the state’s massive deficit...
He returned to America where he set to ~ on a new novel.
PHRASE: V inflects, oft PHR on n
38.
If you ~ your way somewhere, you move or progress there slowly, and with a lot of effort or ~.
Rescuers were still ~ing their way towards the trapped men...
Many personnel managers started as secretaries or personnel assistants and ~ed their way up.
PHRASE: V inflects, PHR prep/adv
39.
to throw a spanner in the ~s: see spanner