work out
Britishverb
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(tr) to achieve or accomplish by effort
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(tr) to solve or find out by reasoning or calculation
to work out an answer
to work out a sum
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(tr) to devise or formulate
to work out a plan
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(intr) to prove satisfactory or effective
did your plan work out?
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(intr) to happen as specified
it all worked out well
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(intr) to take part in physical exercise, as in training
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(tr) to remove all the mineral in (a mine, body of ore, etc) that can be profitably exploited
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(intr; often foll by to or at) to reach a total
your bill works out at a pound
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informal (tr) to understand the real nature of
I shall never work you out
noun
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Accomplish by work or effort, as in I think we can work out a solution to this problem . [1500s] For work out all right , see turn out all right .
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Find a solution for, solve, as in They hoped to work out their personal differences , or Can you help me work out this equation? [Mid-1800s]
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Formulate or develop, as in We were told to work out a new plan , or He's very good at working out complicated plots . [Early 1800s]
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Discharge a debt by working instead of paying money, as in She promised she'd work out the rest of the rent by baby-sitting for them . [Second half of 1600s]
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Prove effective or successful, as in I wonder if their marriage will work out .
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Have a specific result, add up, as in It worked out that she was able to go to the party after all , or The total works out to more than a million . [Late 1800s]
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Engage in strenuous exercise for physical conditioning, as in He works out with weights every other day . [1920s]
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Exhaust a resource, such as a mine, as in This mine has been completely worked out . [Mid-1500s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In prison, he became devoted to working out; after his release, Mr. James hung out his shingle as a personal trainer.
Adams, a probable Hall of Famer, worked out great: Despite a hamstring injury that forced him to sit out three games, he caught a league-best 14 touchdown passes.
From Los Angeles Times
"Russia should have had -- though unfortunately it didn't work out -- a leader exactly like Nemtsov," he told AFP, declining to give his surname.
From Barron's
While Um, the California financial planner, had a personal-loan success story with one client, it didn’t work out so well for another.
From MarketWatch
Markus sees AI pilots as analogous to flipping a coin: You have a roughly 50/50 chance of it working out.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
