WORK OUT

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does work out mean? 

• WORK OUT (verb)
  The verb WORK OUT has 8 senses:

1. come up with

2. happen in a certain way, leading to, producing, or resulting in a certain outcome, often well

3. work out in detail

4. do physical exercise

5. be calculated

6. make a mathematical calculation or computation

7. find the solution to (a problem or question) or understand the meaning of

8. give a workout to

  Familiarity information: WORK OUT used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WORK OUT (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Come up with

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

work out; work up

Context example:

We worked up an ad for our client

Hypernyms (to "work out" is one way to...):

develop; make grow (cause to grow and differentiate in ways conforming to its natural development)

Verb group:

elaborate; work out (work out in detail)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Happen in a certain way, leading to, producing, or resulting in a certain outcome, often well

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Context example:

Not everything worked out in the end and we were disappointed

Hypernyms (to "work out" is one way to...):

come out; turn out (result or end)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 3

Meaning:

Work out in detail

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

elaborate; work out

Context example:

elaborate a plan

Hypernyms (to "work out" is one way to...):

develop; make grow (cause to grow and differentiate in ways conforming to its natural development)

Verb group:

work out; work up (come up with)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Do physical exercise

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

exercise; work out

Context example:

She works out in the gym every day

"Work out" entails doing...:

move (move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion)

Verb group:

exercise; work; work out (give a workout to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "work out"):

train (exercise in order to prepare for an event or competition)

tumble (do gymnastics, roll and turn skillfully)

strengthen; tone; tone up (give a healthy elasticity to)

press; weight-lift; weightlift (lift weights)

limber up; loosen up; warm up (make one's body limber or suppler by stretching, as if to prepare for strenuous physical activity)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

workout (the activity of exerting your muscles in various ways to keep fit)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Be calculated

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Context example:

The fees work out to less than $1,000

Hypernyms (to "work out" is one way to...):

add up; amount; come; number; total (add up in number or quantity)

Verb group:

calculate; cipher; compute; cypher; figure; reckon; work out (make a mathematical calculation or computation)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 6

Meaning:

Make a mathematical calculation or computation

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

calculate; cipher; compute; cypher; figure; reckon; work out

Hypernyms (to "work out" is one way to...):

reason (think logically)

Verb group:

work out (be calculated)

Domain category:

math; mathematics; maths (a science (or group of related sciences) dealing with the logic of quantity and shape and arrangement)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "work out"):

resolve; solve (find the solution)

capitalise; capitalize (compute the present value of a business or an income)

budget (make a budget)

approximate; estimate; gauge; guess; judge (judge tentatively or form an estimate of (quantities or time))

survey (plot a map of (land))

integrate (calculate the integral of; calculate by integration)

differentiate (calculate a derivative; take the derivative)

extrapolate; interpolate (estimate the value of)

divide; fraction (perform a division)

multiply (combine by multiplication)

deduct; subtract; take off (make a subtraction)

add; add together (make an addition by combining numbers)

factor; factor in; factor out (resolve into factors)

average; average out (compute the average of)

recalculate (calculate anew)

miscalculate; misestimate (calculate incorrectly)

prorate (divide or assess proportionally)

process (perform mathematical and logical operations on (data) according to programmed instructions in order to obtain the required information)

extract (calculate the root of a number)

quantise; quantize (apply quantum theory to; restrict the number of possible values of (a quantity) or states of (a physical entity or system) so that certain variables can assume only certain discrete magnitudes that are integral multiples of a common factor)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sense 7

Meaning:

Find the solution to (a problem or question) or understand the meaning of

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

figure out; lick; puzzle out; solve; work; work out

Context example:

He could not work the math problem

Hypernyms (to "work out" is one way to...):

understand (know and comprehend the nature or meaning of)

"Work out" entails doing...:

reason (think logically)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "work out"):

break (find the solution or key to)

answer (give the correct answer or solution to)

guess; infer (guess correctly; solve by guessing)

strike (arrive at after reckoning, deliberating, and weighing)

riddle (explain a riddle)

answer; resolve (understand the meaning of)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 8

Meaning:

Give a workout to

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

exercise; work; work out

Context example:

this puzzle will exercise your mind

Hypernyms (to "work out" is one way to...):

put to work; work (cause to work)

Cause:

exercise; work out (do physical exercise)

Verb group:

exercise; work out (do physical exercise)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "work out"):

warm up (cause to do preliminary exercises so as to stretch the muscles)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

workout (the activity of exerting your muscles in various ways to keep fit)

 Context examples 

If you are attached, the weekend of January 25-26 could work out to be divine because Venus and Neptune will meet in conjunction in Pisces.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Advanced algorithms were then used to tap into the data generated to work out where galaxies were picking up all their matter from.

(Half Our Body's Atoms Could Have Come from Outside The Galaxy, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

But astronomers have struggled to work out which of these two galaxies is the more massive.

(No Winner in Milky Way-Andromeda Clash, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

This helps us work out how to reinforce the building appropriately.

(Visualising heat flow in bamboo could help design more energy-efficient and fire-safe buildings, University of Cambridge)

To determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the present prices of the investments with which it is concerned.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

With such powers as his, however, and such a disposition as hers, Edmund trusted that everything would work out a happy conclusion.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Those ideas of his might work out dangerously with strangers.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

If I could ever work out his restoration, as I have so innocently been the cause of his decline!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

You’ll find that my theory of the Mafia will work out all right.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"I hope the third year from this will end better. I mean it shall, if I live to work out my plans," said Mr. Brooke, smiling at Meg, as if everything had become possible to him now.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)