<p><strong>Noun</strong></p><ul><li>Exertion or effort directed to produce or accomplish something; labor; toil.</li><li>Antonyms: rest, play.</li><li>Productive or operative activity.</li><li>Synonyms: business, occupation, industry.</li><li>Employment, as in some form of industry, especially as a means of earning one's livelihood.</li><li>Synonyms: profession, vocation, calling, trade, job.</li><li>One's place of employment: Don't phone him at work.</li><li>Something on which exertion or labor is expended; a task or undertaking.</li><li>Synonyms: responsibility, job, assignment, enterprise.</li><li>Materials, things, etc., on which one is working or is to work.</li><li>The result of exertion, labor, or activity; a deed or performance.</li><li>Synonyms: feat, achievement, product.</li><li>A product of exertion, labor, or activity: musical works.</li><li>Often works: an engineering structure, as a building or bridge.</li><li>A building, wall, trench, or the like, constructed or made as a means of fortification.</li><li>Works, (used with a singular or plural verb) a place or establishment for manufacturing (often used in combination): ironworks.</li><li>The working parts of a machine: the works of a watch.</li><li>Theological: righteous deeds.</li><li>Physics: force times the distance through which it acts; specifically, the transference of energy equal to the product of the component of a force that acts in the direction of the motion of the point of application of the force and the distance through which the point of application moves.</li><li>The works, Informal: everything; all related items or matters: a hamburger with the works.</li><li>Harsh or cruel treatment: to give someone the works.</li></ul><p><strong>Adjective</strong></p><ul><li>Of, for, or concerning work: work clothes.</li><li>Working (def 18).</li></ul><p><strong>Verb (used without object)</strong></p><ul><li>Worked or (Archaic) wrought: to do work; labor.</li><li>Synonyms: drudge, toil.</li><li>To be employed, especially as a means of earning one's livelihood: He hasn't worked for six weeks.</li><li>To be in operation, as a machine: The water should not be disconnected while the pump is working.</li><li>To act or operate effectively: We all agree that this plan works.</li><li>To attain a specified condition, as by repeated movement: The nails worked loose.</li><li>To have an effect or influence, as on a person or on the mind or feelings of a person.</li><li>To move in agitation, as the features under strong emotion.</li><li>To make way with effort or under stress: The ship works to windward.</li><li>Nautical: to give slightly at the joints, as a vessel under strain at sea.</li><li>Machinery: to move improperly, as from defective fitting of parts or from wear.</li><li>To undergo treatment by labor in a given way: This dough works slowly.</li><li>To ferment, as a liquid.</li></ul><p><strong>Verb (used with object)</strong></p><ul><li>Worked or (Archaic except) wrought: to use or manage (an apparatus, contrivance, etc.): It is easy to work the camera in this mobile device.</li><li>She can work many power tools.</li><li>Synonyms: handle, manipulate, operate.</li><li>To bring about (any result) by or as by work or effort: to work a change.</li><li>Synonyms: achieve, produce, effect, accomplish.</li><li>To manipulate or treat by labor: to work butter.</li><li>To put into effective operation.</li><li>To operate (a mine, farm, etc.) for productive purposes: to work a coal mine.</li><li>To carry on operations in (a district or region).</li><li>To make, fashion, or execute by work.</li><li>Synonyms: shape, model, form, make.</li><li>To achieve or win by work or effort: to work one's passage.</li><li>To keep (a person, a horse, etc.) at work: She works her employees hard.</li><li>To cause a strong emotion in: to work a crowd into a frenzy.</li><li>To influence or persuade, especially insidiously: to work other people to one's will.</li><li>Synonyms: sway, move.</li><li>Informal: to exploit (someone or something) to one's advantage: See if you can work your uncle for a new car.</li><li>He worked his charm in landing a new job.</li><li>To make or decorate by needlework or embroidery: She worked a needlepoint cushion.</li><li>To cause fermentation in.</li></ul><p><strong>Verb Phrase</strong></p><ul><li>To exercise influence on; persuade; affect: I'll work on her, and maybe she'll change her mind.</li><li>To move or stir the feelings; excite.</li><li>To prepare; elaborate: Work up some plans.</li><li>To increase in efficiency or skill: He worked up his typing speed to 70 words a minute.</li><li>Rise to a higher position; advance: He worked up to the presidency.</li><li>To bring about by work, effort, or action.</li><li>To solve, as a problem.</li><li>To arrive at by or as by calculation.</li><li>To pay (a debt) by working instead of paying money.</li><li>To exhaust, as a mine.</li><li>To issue in a result.</li><li>To evolve; elaborate.</li><li>To amount to (a total or specified figure); add up (to): The total works out to 176.</li><li>To prove effective or successful: Their marriage just didn't work out.</li><li>To practice, exercise, or train, especially in order to become proficient in an athletic sport: The boxers are working out at the gym tonight.</li><li>To study or examine thoroughly: For my term paper I worked over 30 volumes of Roman history.</li><li>Informal: to beat unsparingly, especially in order to obtain something or out of revenge: They threatened to work him over until he talked.</li><li>To bring or put in; add, merge, or blend: The tailor worked in the patch skillfully.</li><li>Work the cream into the hands until it is completely absorbed.</li><li>To arrange a time or employment for: The dentist was very busy, but said she would be able to work me in late in the afternoon.</li><li>They worked him into the new operation.</li><li>To lose or dispose of, as by exercise or labor: We decided to work off the effects of a heavy supper by walking for an hour.</li><li>To pay or fulfill by working: He worked off his debt by doing odd jobs.</li><li>To deal with successfully; come to terms with: to work through one's feelings of guilt.</li></ul>