working

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈwɝkɪŋ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈwɜːkɪŋ/

• Audio (General American)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)kɪŋ
• Hyphenation: work‧ing

From Middle English werking, werkynge, warkynge, worchinge, from Old English wyrcung (“working, work”), verbal noun of wyrcan (“to work”), equivalent to work +‎ -ing. Cognate with Scots wirking, warking, Dutch werking, German Wirkung.

working (countable and uncountable, plural workings)

1. (usually in the plural) Operation; action.
2. Method of operation.
3. (arithmetic) The incidental or subsidiary calculations performed in solving an overall problem.

   Be sure to check your working.

4. Fermentation.
5. (of bodies of water) Becoming full of a vegetable substance.

• misworking

From work +‎ -ing. Compare Scots wirkand, werkand, warkand (“working”), Dutch werkend (“working, acting”), German wirkend (“acting, working”).

working

1. present participle of work

   Leave him alone; he's working.

working (not comparable)

1. That is or are functioning.

   a working ventilator

2. That suffices but requires additional work.

   a working copy of the script

3. In paid employment.

   working mothers

4. Of or relating to employment.

   the working week

5. Enough to allow one to use something.

   a working knowledge of computers

• (functioning): functioning; up (mainly used of computers)
• (that suffices but requires further work): draft, provisional, temporary
• (in paid employment): employed, in employment
• (of or relating to employment): work
• (enough to allow one to use something): basic

• (functioning): broken, broken-down, down (mainly used of computers)

• working pressure
• working timetable

• known-working

• work

• working in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.