work out
verbUK /ˌwɜːk ˈaʊt/ · US /ˌwɝk ˈaʊt/
14 senses
- 1To calculate.
- 2To make sense of.
- 3To decide.
- 4To bring about or cause to happen by work or effort.
- 5To resolve; to find a solution for.
- 6To develop or devise in detail; to elaborate.
- 7To smooth or perfect.
- 8To conclude with the correct solution.
- 9To succeed; to result in a satisfactory situation.
- 10To exercise, especially by lifting weights.
- 11To strengthen a part of one’s body by exercise.
- 12To earn a wage working away from one's farm.
- 13Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see work, out.
- 14To remove all the mineral that can be profitably exploited.
1
To calculate.
- Can you work out 250 × 12 in your head for me?
- Can you work out how to get to the university by car?
1 more example
- You don't have to be Einstein to work out that this level of government subsidy is unsustainable.2022 January 12, Sir Michael Holden, “Reform of the workforce or death by a thousand cuts?”, in RAIL, number 948, page 22:
2
To make sense of.
- I can't work these instructions out.
3
To decide.
- I can't work out if I like him or not.
4
To bring about or cause to happen by work or effort.
- Near-synonyms: hash out, hammer out
- I think we can work out a compromise.
1 more example
- "Ah! if man would but see that hope is from within and not from without - that he himself must work out his own salvation!"1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
5
To resolve; to find a solution for.
- Near-synonyms: straighten out, sort out
- They managed to work out their differences.
1 more example
- Trump hinted that Britain might be spared tariffs, saying: “I think that one can be worked out”.2025 February 3, Tom Phillips, Richard Partington, quoting Donald Trump, “Trump agrees to pause Mexico tariffs as shares tumble over trade war fears”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
6
To develop or devise in detail; to elaborate.
- Near-synonyms: plan out, lay out
- to work out a plan
7
To smooth or perfect.
- Near-synonyms: iron out, smooth out
- This is a beta version; we're still working out the kinks.
8
To conclude with the correct solution.
- Near-synonym: add up
- These figures just don't work out.
9
To succeed; to result in a satisfactory situation.
- Near-synonym: pan out
- Are you still seeing John? – No, it didn't work out.
1 more example
- As everyone knows, almost all booked passenger and freight trains are diagrammed into rosters for engines and men, and in an operating Utopia everything would work out daily according to plan.1962 August, G. Freeman Allen, “Traffic control on the Great Northern Line”, in Modern Railways, page 131:
10
To exercise, especially by lifting weights.
- John won't be here for a while because he's working out.
- Wow, you're looking good! Do you work out?
1 more example
- Alright, here we go! / Five, four, three, two, and one / Are you ready to work out?2018, “She Works Out Too Much”, in Little Dark Age, performed by MGMT:
11
To strengthen a part of one’s body by exercise.
- To work out your core
- Hot, worked-out body and a creative mind possessed by this hunky, handsome, married guy.1990 December 9, “Personal advertisement”, in Gay Community News, volume 18, number 21, page 12:
12
US To earn a wage working away from one's farm.
- The two Russians made good farmhands, and in summer they worked out together.1918, Willa Cather, chapter 5, in My Ántonia, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, page 38:
- […] with them good wages, maybe a fella can get hisself a little piece a land an’ work out for extra cash.1939, John Steinbeck, chapter 13, in The Grapes of Wrath, New York: Viking, published 1958, page 201:
13
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see work, out.
- Using some tweezers, he worked the bee sting out of his hand.
- He works out of a small office shared with three others.
- The gravel pit had been worked out.
- A worked-out chalk pit or quarry
- Derived terms
- work it out on the remix