workday

[wurk-dey]

noun

1. a day on which work is done; working day.

2. the part of a day during which one works.

3. the length of time during a day on which one works.

   a seven-hour workday.

adjective

1. workaday.

workday

/ ˈwɜːkˌdeɪ /

noun

1. the usual US term for working day

adjective

1. another word for workaday

Word History and Origins

Origin of workday¹

1400–50; late Middle English werkday, Old English weorcdæg. See work, day

Example Sentences

We’ve all had that sensation at the end of a long workday where you might be just staring at the computer screen and, you know, nothing’s happening.

From Los Angeles Times

Isaias and the couple’s son, Carlos, had both come, despite starting their workday at 2 a.m.

From Los Angeles Times

All six workers we spoke to described the same punishing workdays – waking at 6am and being forced to build high-rise apartments until 2am the next morning, with just two days off a year.

From BBC

A subplot in Season 2 sees one of George’s steel mills grind to a halt when its workers go on strike, demanding eight-hour workdays and better living conditions.

From Salon

I thank her for sacrificing the hours from her precious workday.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• banal 
• day-to-day 
• everyday 
• humdrum 
• normal 
• prosaic 
• workaday 

When To Use

What does workday mean?

A workday is any day that you work. Most commonly, workday refers to one of the days in the workweek, the span of (often five) days that are not the weekend and when many people work.The standard workweek is from Monday through Friday, with Saturday and Sunday being considered the weekend, though working schedules vary widely. Many full-time jobs involve a 40-hour workweek consisting of five eight-hour workdays. In this sense, workweek refers to all the time spent working in a week, and a workday refers to the hours spent working in a day.Workday sometimes refers just to the part of the day that you work, as in After the workday, I like to unwind by taking a walk around the lake before I go home for the night. The word workday is sometimes used to distinguish it from other nonwork days during a certain period, as in My vacation is 11 days away—and only eight workdays!The workweek can also be called the working week, and a workday can also be called a working day.Workday is sometimes used as an adjective meaning commonplace, ordinary, or everyday, as in It has average, workday features—nothing special. The variant workaday is more commonly used to mean the same thing.Example: My workday consists of catching up on emails for the first hour or so, and then I’m in meetings for several hours, leaving me an hour or two to get some actual work done.