workshop meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

workshop

noun

UK /ˈwɜːk.ʃɒp/ · US /ˈwɝk.ʃɑp/

Etymology From work + shop.

A room, especially one which is not particularly large, used for manufacturing or other light industrial work.

A gleam of sun shining through the unsashed window, and chequering the dark workshop with a broad patch of light, fell full upon him, as though attracted by his sunny heart.1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. (please specify the chapter number)”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC:

A brief, intensive course of education for a small group, emphasizing interaction and practical problem solving.

On any given Friday night at the Claremont Colleges, between 15 and 20 Jewish students gather to sing wordless melodies, dive into textual study of Talmud or James Baldwin, or hold workshops on antisemitism.2019 July 3, Jess Schwalb, “Red Line Rebellion”, in Jewish Currents:

An academic conference.

Derived terms: idle hands are the devil's workshop, Santa's workshop, sheltered workshop

verb

Etymology From work + shop.

Broadcasting, Entertainment, Film, Lifestyle, Media, Television, Theater To help a playwright revise a draft of (a play) by rehearsing it with actors and critiquing the results.

That’s because as well as the film being set in San Francisco and channelling California’s favourite sexologist, the cast workshopped the script for a fortnight with screenwriters Rashida Jones and Will McCormack.2026 July 3, Catherine Shoard, “‘I feel both thrilled and ruined by this’: Olivia Wilde and Edward Norton on making sex comedy The Invite”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

To work on or revise something, especially collaboratively, in a workshop.

Some in-class tutorial time was set aside for workshopping the entries.2015, James Lambert, “Lexicography as a teaching tool: A Hong Kong case study”, in Lan Li, Jamie McKeown, Liming Liu, editors, Dictionaries and corpora: Innovations in reference science. Proceedings of ASIALEX 2015 Hong Kong, Hong Kong: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, page 146:

Business To improve through collaboration.

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.