Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

piece of work

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.99 in modern English

Syllables: piece of -work
IPA

25

Scrabble Score

11

Letters

2

Syllables

9

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A product or manufactured article, especially an item of art or craft.

noun

A person who has a strong and unusual personality, especially one with seriously unpleasant character flaws.

Derogatory

Example Sentences

"What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculty!"
"1996, David Ansen "The Killer And The Nun (film review)," Newsweek, 8 Jan., “Dead Man Walking” is a powerful and intelligent piece of work."
"Ugh! She's a piece of work. "A rotten, bad piece, I'd call it," answered Wheedles under his breath."
"She built a reputation as a piece of work; if she didn't like a crowd, sometimes she'd walk off stage in midset and call a cab home."
"Known as Pixie for his fresh looks, and Dr Death for his cold stare of disapproval, Rudd was said to have few friends in Canberra. Former Labor leaders Paul Keating and Mark Latham described him, respectively, as "a menace" and "a terrible piece of work"."

Etymology

First use appears c. 1473. The idiomatic second sense came about due to Hamlet’s monologue. See cite from sense 1 below.

Usage

Derogatory

Inflected Forms

pieces of work (plural)

Frequently Paired Words

workpiece

Synonyms

labor work

Questions

What does piece of work mean?: A product or manufactured article, especially an item of art or craft.
Where does piece of work come from?: First use appears c. 1473. The idiomatic second sense came about due to Hamlet’s monologue. See cite from sense 1 below.

How to pronounce piece of work

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