WORKMANSHIP

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does workmanship mean? 

• WORKMANSHIP (noun)
  The noun WORKMANSHIP has 1 sense:

1. skill in an occupation or trade

  Familiarity information: WORKMANSHIP used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WORKMANSHIP (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Skill in an occupation or trade

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

craft; craftsmanship; workmanship

Hypernyms ("workmanship" is a kind of...):

accomplishment; acquirement; acquisition; attainment; skill (an ability that has been acquired by training)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "workmanship"):

housecraft (skill in domestic management)

priestcraft (the skills involved in the work of a priest)

stagecraft (skill in writing or staging plays)

tradecraft (skill acquired through experience in a trade; often used to discuss skill in espionage)

watercraft (skill in the management of boats)

woodcraft (skill in carving or fashioning objects from wood)

Derivation:

workman (an employee who performs manual or industrial labor)

 Context examples 

“It's an admirable piece of workmanship—firm as a rock!”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He looked at the workmanship; there was not one false stitch in the whole job; all was so neat and true, that it was quite a masterpiece.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

For instance, when I am at home, and dressed as I ought to be, I carry on my body the workmanship of a hundred tradesmen; the building and furniture of my house employ as many more, and five times the number to adorn my wife.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Up went the axe again, and again the panels crashed and the frame bounded; four times the blow fell; but the wood was tough and the fittings were of excellent workmanship; and it was not until the fifth, that the lock burst and the wreck of the door fell inwards on the carpet.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

There was a superstition among us that this cap had come from France, and could only originate in the workmanship of that ingenious nation: but all I certainly know about it, is, that it always made its appearance of an evening, wheresoever Mrs. Markleham made HER appearance; that it was carried about to friendly meetings in a Hindoo basket; that the butterflies had the gift of trembling constantly; and that they improved the shining hours at Doctor Strong's expense, like busy bees.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I told him, “that in the kingdom of Tribnia, by the natives called Langdon, where I had sojourned some time in my travels, the bulk of the people consist in a manner wholly of discoverers, witnesses, informers, accusers, prosecutors, evidences, swearers, together with their several subservient and subaltern instruments, all under the colours, the conduct, and the pay of ministers of state, and their deputies. The plots, in that kingdom, are usually the workmanship of those persons who desire to raise their own characters of profound politicians; to restore new vigour to a crazy administration; to stifle or divert general discontents; to fill their coffers with forfeitures; and raise, or sink the opinion of public credit, as either shall best answer their private advantage. It is first agreed and settled among them, what suspected persons shall be accused of a plot; then, effectual care is taken to secure all their letters and papers, and put the owners in chains. These papers are delivered to a set of artists, very dexterous in finding out the mysterious meanings of words, syllables, and letters: for instance, they can discover a close stool, to signify a privy council; a flock of geese, a senate; a lame dog, an invader; the plague, a standing army; a buzzard, a prime minister; the gout, a high priest; a gibbet, a secretary of state; a chamber pot, a committee of grandees; a sieve, a court lady; a broom, a revolution; a mouse-trap, an employment; a bottomless pit, a treasury; a sink, a court; a cap and bells, a favourite; a broken reed, a court of justice; an empty tun, a general; a running sore, the administration.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)