Meaning & use
work together
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Meanings
phrasephrasal verb
To cooperate with other people to do a job or reach a goal.
Grammar: No object; can add with plus a person: work together with the team.
Patterns
- work together on something
- work together to do something
- work together with someone
The two schools work together on a shared science project.
If we work together, we can finish before dark.
Neighbors worked together to rebuild the fence.
phrasephrasal verb
To function well as a set of parts that support each other.
Grammar: The subject is usually plural things or parts: the gears work together.
Patterns
- work together to do something
The colors in the room work together nicely.
The muscles in your leg work together when you walk.
The two medicines work together to lower the fever.
Word forms
| third person singular | works together |
|---|---|
| past tense | worked together |
| past participle | worked together |
| -ing form | working together |
Common combinations
- work together closely
- The doctors and nurses work together closely.
- work together as a team
- We need to work together as a team.
- work together toward a goal
- The villages work together toward cleaner water.
- learn to work together
- The two rivals had to learn to work together.
- work together peacefully
- Countries should work together peacefully to share the river.
Synonyms and how they differ
- cooperate
- Cooperate is more formal and often implies agreeing to help, while work together is plain and suggests shared effort.
- collaborate
- Collaborate suggests joint creative or intellectual work, like writing or research.
- team up
- Team up is informal and suggests joining forces, often for a specific task.
- join forces
- Join forces stresses combining strength against a challenge, so it sounds more dramatic.
Opposites
Word family
- teamwork noun
- the effort of a group working together
- cooperation noun
- the act of working together
- co-worker noun
- a person you work with
- together adverb
- with each other
Commonly confused: work together or work out?
work together vs work out
Work out means to solve, exercise or end successfully, and it is not about cooperating.
Practice
Which sentence uses work together correctly?
Choose one answer.
Work together is followed by on for the task, as in work together on a project. At, no preposition and of are not natural.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “work together”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.