# working

Pronunciation: say "WUR-king" US /ˈwɝkɪŋ/, UK /ˈwɜːkɪŋ/

## Verb

1. Present participle of work. — present participle and gerund of work
   - Simple: Present participle of work. Use this form for an action happening right now.
   - _He is working late at the office again tonight._
   - _The volunteers are working through a mountain of donations._

## Adjective

2. In proper operating condition; able to function as intended.
   - Simple: Able to run or do its job and not broken.
   - _Every working part of the engine was inspected before the trip._
   - _The museum displays a working model of a steam locomotive._
3. Engaged in paid employment; holding a job.
   - Simple: Having a job that you are paid for.
   - _Working families often struggle to afford child care._
   - _The town's working population grew after the factory opened._
4. Relating to employment or the conditions under which a job is done.
   - Simple: Having to do with a person's job or the time spent at it.
   - _Long working hours took a toll on the staff's health._
   - _The contract spells out the working arrangements in detail._
5. Sufficient to let one make practical use of something, though not complete or expert.
   - Simple: Just enough to let you use or do something, but not deep.
   - _He brought a working knowledge of accounting to the new role._
   - _You only need a working grasp of the software to get started._
6. Put to use in real life; practical rather than purely theoretical.
   - Simple: Real and used in practice, not just an idea.
   - _The committee adopted a working approach grounded in everyday practice._
   - _She prefers a working solution over an elegant theory._
7. Serving for the time being but still open to change; provisional.
   - Simple: Good enough for now but still needing more work later.
   - _The team adopted a working hypothesis to guide their early experiments._
   - _The report's working draft still needs several rounds of edits._

## Noun

8. The intermediate calculations carried out and recorded while solving a larger problem.
   - Simple: The smaller steps and math you write down while solving a problem.
   - _Always include your working so the marker can follow your reasoning._
   - _Her working filled three pages before she reached the answer._
9. The operation or action of something; the fact of its being in motion.
   - Simple: The act of operating or being in action.
   - _The smooth working of the assembly line depends on careful timing._
   - _The constant working of the tide slowly reshapes the shoreline._
10. The manner or method by which something operates.
   - Simple: The way something works inside and how it does its job.
   - _The book reveals the inner working of the stock market._
   - _Engineers studied the working of the new turbine to improve efficiency._
11. A site or location where work, especially digging or industry, is carried out.
   - Simple: A place where work is done, such as a mine.
   - _Surveyors mapped each underground working in the coal mine._
   - _The flooded working was sealed off for safety._
12. A scheduled movement or trip made by a train.
   - Simple: A single trip or movement made by a train.
   - _Each working on the branch line is logged by the signaler._
   - _A late-night freight working passed through the empty station._
13. The process of fermentation, as in brewing or wine-making.
   - Simple: The bubbling change that turns sugar into alcohol, as in beer.
   - _The brewer watched the working of the must over several days._
   - _Active working in the barrel produces carbon dioxide and alcohol._
14. Of a lake, pond, or other body of water: the process of becoming full of vegetable matter.
   - Simple: When a lake or pond slowly fills up with plant matter.
   - _Fishermen stay away from the mere during its working, when the water clouds with drifting plant matter._
   - _A late-summer working left the reservoir choked with green scum for weeks._

## Adjective

15. Producing the intended effect; effective or efficacious. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Able to bring about a wanted result, and effective.

## Origin

**Meanings 8–14** — From Middle English werking, from Old English wyrcing, a verbal noun of wyrcan ("to work"), essentially work plus the suffix -ing. It is related to Dutch werking and German Wirkung.
**Meanings 1–7, 15** — From Middle English workyng, from Old English wyrcende, from Proto-Germanic *wurkijandz, the present participle of *wurkijaną ("to work"), effectively work plus -ing. Compare Dutch werkend and German wirkend ("working, acting").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/working (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).