Worked

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /wɜːkt/

Definitions

1. Carried out a task or labor requiring effort ; functioned or operated properly or effectively ; treated or shaped by a process
2. Engaged in physical or mental effort to complete something ; ran or performed as intended in use ; modified or handled using a particular method
3. Exerted effort in a job or activity ; was in action or motion ; processed or crafted carefully by hand or tool

Etymology: The past tense "worked" is simply "work" with the regular ending added, so the story belongs to the verb "work" itself. Its ancestor was a word meaning "to make" or "to do," reconstructed in the distant Indo-European ancestor language as "werǵ-." That root travelled through Germanic into Old English as "weorc," which is the source of the modern noun and, through Middle English "werk," the verb we use today. The root has an odd family. Greek "érgon" meant "work," and English shares the same root in surprising places: "energy," "erg," "liturgy" (a public work of the people), "metallurgy," "surgeon" (originally a hand-worker), and "organ," a tool or instrument. "Wright," as in shipwright or playwright, is a cousin too. Many of these came into English through Latin or Greek rather than directly from the Old English line, so they are doublets of the same ancient idea, now dressed in very different clothes.

Synonyms: labored, strived, functioned, operated, exerted

Antonyms: rested, idled, relaxed