work noun
1-) effort or product of effort
ADJECTIVES
hard, extensive • rewarding • heavy
・His success was achieved by hard work.
arduous, back-breaking, challenging, complicated, demanding, difficult, gruelling, intensive, labour-intensive, tiring, tough
・All students should engage in intellectually challenging work.
light • easy • close • donkey • physical • delicate • dangerous • dirty
・They had to do hard physical work on a collective farm.
・(figurative) I always have to do the boss's dirty work.
humdrum, monotonous, repetitive, tedious • fascinating, interesting • purposeful
・His job consists of dull, repetitive work.
valuable • paid, unpaid • professional • men's, women's
・Housework has traditionally been regarded as women's work.
intellectual, mental • creative, imaginative • practical • investigative • undercover
・He liked producing plays because he enjoyed creative work.
leg (= legwork) • course (= coursework) • written
・The teacher allowed us one hour for written work.
individual • group • project • collaborative, joint • remedial
・The study program concentrates more on group work.
background, preliminary, preparatory, initial • follow-up, additional, extra, further • honest
・He received triple wages for all his extra work.
excellent, great, good, nice (informal) • outstanding, sterling
・Nice work, Tom! I knew you could do it.
careful, meticulous, painstaking • poor, shoddy, sloppy
・She was praised for her neat and careful work.
charitable, humanitarian • community, youth • ground-breaking, innovative, pioneering
・The vast majority of youth work is still done by volunteers.
experimental • academic, commercial, educational, environmental, scientific • building, construction • your own
・His scientific work became quite popular.
・Everyone had his own work to do.
QUANTIFIERS
bit, piece
・You'll have to redo this piece of work.
VERBS
carry out, do, put in • get done, have done • produce
・The work was carried out at minimal cost.
get, have • take on, undertake • create, make
・I have some work to do this evening.
begin, commence, get down to, set about/to, start • go about
・We began work on the project in May.
・It's hard to get down to work after a nice holiday.
carry on, continue • complete, finish • halt, hold up, stop
・He was in hurry to complete the work by Friday.
lose • undo • oversee, supervise • set to • require • hand in
・The fire undid the work of eight months.
・We set them to work chopping wood in the garden.
come • wait • go • involve • begin, start • continue, go on • come to a standstill • cost
・How is your work going along?
・As always, her work came first.
NOUNS
ethic • rate • programme, schedule • surface
・My work schedule is fairly flexible.
・Mr. Gray inherited his work ethic from his father.
PREPOSITIONS
at
・He's under huge pressure at work.
on
・Work on the new offices is now in progress.
with
・She told me about her work with homeless people.
PHRASES
a backlog of work
・I've got a huge backlog of work to do.
keep up the good work
・Well done! Keep up the good work.
your life's work
・Her garden was her life's work.
make light/short work of
・The kids made short work of the sandwiches.
never/not a stroke of work
・I never did a stroke of work at college.
pressure of work
・Her health broke down under the pressure of work.
work in progress
・I have one file for completed work and one for work in progress.
2-) job
ADJECTIVES
lucrative, well paid • badly paid • full-time, part-time • permanent • temporary • regular, steady
・He'll be glad to be in regular work again.
piece • casual • freelance • voluntary • skilled • semi-skilled • unskilled • daily, day-to-day, everyday, routine
・Students sometimes do casual work in the cafe.
・Today all sorts of everyday work happen on the computer.
manual • indoor, outdoor • administrative, clerical, office, secretarial • managerial • domestic • social • research • agricultural, farm • building・
・All that outdoor work has made him very strong.
VERBS
have • look for • find, get • go to • go out to
・The cities are full of migrants looking for work.
・I go to work by bicycle.
start • finish, knock off • stop • give up • go • go back to, return to • coordinate
・We usually finish work by six o'clock.
・He's just returned to work after illness.
NOUNS
hours • experience • permit • incentive • practice • roster, schedule
・She's well qualified but has no relevant work experience.
place (= workplace) • area, environment, room (= workroom) • station (= workstation)
・Our company tries to maintain a pleasant work environment.
PREPOSITIONS
at
・Today was a rough day at work.
in (one's)
・I wish you success in your work.
off
・She's been off work since Tuesday.
out of
・Many young people are out of work.
through
・I know her through work.
PHRASES
a line of work
・In my line of work, I meet lots of interesting people.
a place of work
・It's important to feel comfortable in your place of work.
3-) piece of music, art, etc.
ADJECTIVES
classic, fine, great • definitive, seminal
・We are republishing these classic works in modern editions.
influential • erudite, scholarly • ambitious • literary • dramatic • critical • autobiographical, biographical • artistic • art (artwork)
・All the artwork in the book has been done by the author.
abstract, figurative, graphic • choral, orchestral, piano • collected, complete • early • late, mature
・the collected works of Charles Dickens
・some of Beethoven's early works
QUANTIFIERS
series • collection, exhibition
・The museum has a fine collection of valuable works.
VERBS
compose, produce, write
・Mozart composed a lot of music works.
commission • perform, play • hear, read, see
・All the works are performed in the International Ballet Competition.
conduct, direct, edit, produce, publish, put on
・His work was not published during his lifetime.
display, exhibit, show
・Many great works were displayed on the wall.
be called, be entitled
・His work is entitled "Love Story".
PREPOSITIONS
in a/the
・This simple story line was elaborated in the works of Hesiod.
by
・He recognized the painting as an early work by Degas.
PHRASES
an exhibition of sb's work
・The museum is staging an exhibition of Picasso's work.
a work of art/fiction/literature
・The decoration on the cake was a work of art.
a work of genius
・Lawrence's novel was recognized as a work of genius.
4-) building or repairing
ADJECTIVES
extensive, major • road (roadworks) • maintenance, repair, restoration • demolition
・Roadworks have caused traffic jams.
VERBS
carry out • plan • announce • continue, go on
・Repair works are planned to finish by September.
PREPOSITIONS
at the
・There has been an accident at the works.
5-) factory works
VERBS
open • close (down), shut down • turn out
・The works will be closed down over a 2-year period.
NOUNS
foreman, manager, supervisor • canteen
・He's a work supervisor.
PREPOSITIONS
at the
・They wear protective clothing at the works.
work verb
1-) do a job or task
ADVERBS
hard, tirelessly • steadily • round the clock
・She's been working hard to earn money.
full-time, part-time
・I work part-time in a library.
correctly, effectively, efficiently, normally, perfectly, properly, smoothly, well
・It is hard to work efficiently in such a limited space.
closely, collaboratively, together • alone, independently • away
・We worked closely together during those rushed months.
VERBS
continue to • choose to, prefer to
・I prefer to work in natural daylight.
motivate sb to • enable sb to • refuse to
・A lot of people refuse to work with Paula.
PREPOSITIONS
as
・She works as a nurse in a hospital.
at
・I've been working at my assignment all day.
for
・He works for a software company.
on
・I'm working on a new book.
with
・It is a pleasure to work with you.
2-) function; have a result or effect
ADVERBS
effectively, efficiently, properly, satisfactorily, smoothly, perfectly, well • badly
・We've got two TVs, but neither works properly.
independently
・The two departments work independently of each other.
PREPOSITIONS
for
・Financially, things have worked out well for us.