work
1 kinds of work
2 working
3 controlling your own or other people's work
4 working with other people
5 not working
6 workers
going to work TRAVEL
1 kinds of work
- the use of mental or physical effort to do sth: work (noun U)
I've still got a lot of work to do to finish this job. ◎ to start/stop work
- a piece of work that has to be done: job, task
My parents give me various jobs around the house to do during the school holidays. ◎ a boring/difficult task
- the tasks that you do when you are at work: duty (noun C/U)
What exactly are my duties as safety officer? ◎ to be on night duty
- small and varied jobs that have to be done: odd jobs (noun plural)
I do a lot of odd jobs for the neighbours, like gardening, painting fences and washing their car.
- to give work to sb and pay them for doing it: employ sb
She's employed as a security officer.
- the state of being employed, or the act of employing sb: employment (noun U)
- the work that you do for sb else, who pays you: job, work (noun U), (formal) occupation
Have you got a job? ◎ I start my new job next week. ◎ He managed to find work as a tour guide for the summer holidays. ◎ Do I need to state my occupation on the registration form?
- to do a job in order to earn money: work (for sb)
Who do you work for?
※ being employed EMPLOYMENT
- the way in which you earn money: living (noun singular)
What do you do for a living?
- a type of job or area of work that needs sb who is well-educated and highly-trained: profession; a person who works in a profession: professional; adjective: professional
the legal/medical/teaching profession ◎ a professional musician
- work that requires a lot of effort: hard work; opposite: light work
- work that you do using your body: physical work
- work that you do using your hands: manual work
- work that requires a lot of physical effort: heavy work
- work that requires considerable knowledge and training: skilled work; opposite: unskilled work
2 working
- to do work: work
I've been working on the computer all afternoon. ◎ I can't come out - I've got to work.
- to do a particular job: do* sth
Do you think you could do it by this afternoon? ◎ I haven't done all the typing yet.
- to do a lot of work on a particular job: work at/on sth
I worked at it all night to try and get it done. ◎ Scientists have been working on this problem for years.
- to do a piece of work, especially work that has been planned or agreed to: carry sth out, (formal) perform sth
The surgeon performed the emergency operation this morning.
- to start doing sth that you have planned to do: go* ahead
Shall I just go ahead and do what I can?
- doing or having work: working
a working lunch ◎ Working parents can find it difficult to look after young children.
- visiting another place and doing some work there as part of your job: on business
She's away on business at the moment. Can I help you?
- when doctors, nurses, policemen, firemen, etc are working, they are on duty
※ how well you do your work
- the way that you do a task or your job: performance (noun U)
The boss was not very satisfied with the performance of some of his staff.
- to do sth, particularly some task, well/badly: make* a good/poor job (of sth), do* a good/poor job
I haven't made a very good job of it, have I?
- to finish or complete sth well, or to get the result you wanted, especially after a lot of hard work: achieve sth; noun (C/U): achievement
We've achieved some really good results this year. ◎ That's a great achievement! ◎ a great sense of achievement
- to achieve part of the work you have to do: make* progress (with/on sth), get* on (with sth)
I'm afraid I haven't made much progress with it so far. ◎ How are you getting on?
- if work is being done now, it is in progress
The work of entering the data is already in progress.
- to continue doing sth, particularly after you have been interrupted: get* on (with sth)
I can't spend all day chatting. I must get on with this or I'll never get it done.
- to do extra work in order to finish sth, especially when you have been away: catch* up on sth
She had a lot of work to catch up on after she got back from holiday.
- the time by which sth must be finished or done: deadline
I've still so much to do. I'll never make the deadline!
※ working hard
- if you have a lot of work to do, you are busy
I'm sorry, I'm rather busy at the moment. Could you call me back?
- a period in which you have a lot of work to do is busy; very busy: hectic
It's been a busy day today. ◎ I've had a really hectic day at the office. I didn't even have time for lunch!
- to work as fast as you possibly can without a break: work flat out
They're working flat out over the weekend to get it finished in time for Monday.
- to accept or agree to do sth: take* sth on
He's taken on more work than he can cope with.
- working too much: overwork (noun U); adjective: overworked
I was made ill by overwork. ◎ The staff feel overworked and underpaid.
- to work less hard: slow down, take* it easy, take* things easy
Her doctor advised her to slow down and not try to do so much. ◎ Relax! Take it easy! There's still plenty of time to get it all finished.
- to focus your attention on a task: concentrate (on sth); noun (U): concentration
How can I possibly concentrate with all this noise?
- to prevent sb from concentrating on their work: distract sb (from sth); noun (C/U): distraction
I can't work here - I keep getting distracted by people walking in and out. ◎ Let's go and do this somewhere else. There are too many distractions here.
3 controlling your own or other people's work
- if you have to do sth, or look after sb/sth, you are responsible (for sb/sth)
Managers are responsible for the way their staff work. ◎ You can't hold me responsible for that. It's not my job to do it.
- the state of being responsible for sb/sth: responsibility (noun U)
It's not my responsibility. ◎ to take/have responsibility for sth
- if you are responsible for sb/sth, can give orders, etc, you are in charge (of sb/sth)
Who's in charge here?
- to be in charge of a company or other organization: run* sth, manage sth; noun (U): management
- a person whose job is to give orders to other people at work: (informal) boss
- to make sure that work is done properly, or that people are doing their work properly: supervise sb/sth; noun (U): supervision; a person who does this: supervisor
The maintenance work must be supervised to make sure that it is being done thoroughly. ◎ Trainees should not be left to work without supervision.
※ more on management MANAGEMENT
4 working with other people
- to help sb to do sth: give* sb a hand (with sth), (formal) assist sb; noun (U): assistance
Can you give me a hand with this suitcase? ◎ If someone could give me some assistance with these letters, I would be very grateful.
- a person who helps sb of a higher rank, or who sells things in a shop: assistant
a personal assistant ◎ the assistant manager
- a person who works with you: colleague
- to work with sb else in order to do sth: cooperate (with sb/sth), collaborate (with sb); nouns (U): cooperation, collaboration
Our company will be cooperating with a German firm on this new project. ◎ work done in collaboration with another research team
- a person who is willing to cooperate is cooperative
cooperative colleagues
- a group of people who work together in order to achieve the same thing: team
They had a team of top lawyers.
- to join up with other people to form a team: team up (with sb)
We teamed up with another group to do a project on Europe.
- the work done by a team: teamwork (noun U)
It was great teamwork that helped get the job done on time.
※ doing sb else's work
- to do sb else's job while they are absent: fill in (for sb), stand* in (for sb), cover for sb
They got a temporary secretary to fill in for her while she was off sick. ◎ Could you cover for me while I go to the meeting?
- doing sb else's job for a short period of time until they return or until sb is appointed to do the job officially: acting (only before a noun)
This is Mr Stuart - our acting head teacher.
- to take over the position of sb for a temporary period: act as sth
She's acting as manager for the next couple of months.
- to replace sb in a job, etc: take* the place (of sb)
Who will take his place when he leaves?
- to take the responsibility for sth or to continue where sb else has finished: take* (sth) over from sb
The morning shift takes over from the night shift at 9 am.
5 not working
- a short time when you stop work (especially in order to have some coffee, tea, sth to eat, etc): break
a lunch break ◎ a tea break ◎ I'm getting tired. Let's take a break for ten minutes.
- to finish doing some work: (informal) knock off
They normally knock off work about 5.30 pm and go off to the pub.
- a period of time when you relax or sleep after working: rest (noun C/U)
I need a rest. ◎ Okay. You get some rest, and I'll take over.
- a period of time when you do not go to work, and often travel to another place or country to relax: holiday
I'm sorry she's not in the office. She's on holiday this week.
※ not working when you are employed EMPLOYMENT
- more on having a rest or taking a holiday REST, HOLIDAY
- the time when you do not have to work: spare time (noun U), leisure (noun U)
What do you do in your spare time? ◎ Shorter working hours mean that people have more leisure.
- when you are not busy, or you are not doing any work at the moment, you are free
When are you free?
- when doctors, nurses, policemen, firemen, etc are not working, they are off duty
6 workers
- a person who works, especially sb who does a particular type of job: worker
an office worker ◎ a manual worker ◎ factory workers
- a person who does heavy manual work, especially on building sites: workman (plural workmen), labourer
- a person who does administrative work rather than manual work, and usually works in offices: white-collar worker
- the group of people in an industrialized society who do manual work: the working class: adjective: working class
- if you have the knowledge or ability to do sth, because you have done it before, you are experienced; opposite: inexperienced
a highly experienced pilot ◎ They were rather inexperienced for this kind of work.
- the quality of being experienced: experience (noun U); opposite: inexperience (noun U)
He'd had a lot of experience of this kind of problem. ◎ All these mistakes are because of his relative inexperience in this area.
- if you have studied for and passed all the necessary examinations and conditions for sth, you are qualified; opposite: unqualified
a qualified accountant ◎ Is he sufficiently qualified for this position?
- the examinations that you have passed, the courses that you have completed, etc: qualifications
List your qualifications on the application form.
- the ability to do sth well because you have been trained: skill (noun U)
a job requiring a great deal of skill
- having a lot of skill in a particular area: skilled; opposite: unskilled
skilled/unskilled workers
※ more on skill SKILL
- a person who works hard is hardworking; opposite: lazy
- a person who is good at what they do is competent; opposite: incompetent
Though lacking experience, he soon became very competent at his job.
- a person who is able to do their job quickly, without making mistakes and wasting time, is efficient (adverb efficiently); opposite: inefficient (adverb inefficiently)
an efficient secretary ◎ to work efficiently
- the quality of being efficient: efficiency (noun U); opposite: inefficiency
- showing care and attention to details in the work you do: careful (adverb carefully); noun (U): care
- a person who does things carefully, paying attention to detail to make sure that it is right, is thorough; noun (U): thoroughness
- a person who takes care to do things well is conscientious (adverb conscientiously); noun (U): conscientiousness
※ more on being careful CAREFUL
※ MORE ...
- work that you do because you want to do it, and not because you have to, or work that you are not paid to do, is voluntary
A lot of retired people do voluntary work. ◎ You don't have to do it, it's voluntary.
- a person who does voluntary work: volunteer
- a person who is not able to stop working: workaholic
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