Meaning & use
yeoman's work
Last updated
UK/ˈjəʊmənz wɜːk/
US/ˈjoʊmənz wɝːk/
Meaning
noununcountableapproving
Hard, steady and dependable work done over a long time, often unnoticed but very useful.
Grammar: Used as a mass noun: do yeoman's work.
Patterns
- do yeoman's work
- yeoman's work on something
The volunteers did yeoman's work cleaning the beach.
She did yeoman's work keeping the team on schedule.
The old tractor still does yeoman's work every harvest.
Common combinations
- do yeoman's work
- He did yeoman's work on the budget.
- yeoman's work on
- Thanks for the yeoman's work on the report.
- yeoman's work for the team
- She does yeoman's work for the team.
- yeoman service
- The old van has done yeoman service.
- deserve credit for yeoman's work
- They deserve credit for their yeoman's work.
Synonyms and how they differ
- hard work
- Hard work is plain and general, while yeoman's work adds the idea of loyal, steady effort.
- sterling work
- Sterling work stresses excellence rather than steadiness.
- heavy lifting
- Heavy lifting is informal and suggests the hardest part of a job.
- legwork
- Legwork is the tiring detailed groundwork, often boring.
Opposites
Word family
- yeoman noun
- historically a farmer who owned a small estate
- yeomanry noun
- the class of yeomen
- yeoman service noun
- useful loyal service
Commonly confused: yeoman's work or woman's work?
yeoman's work vs woman's work
The spelling is yeoman, not woman; the phrase is about farmer-like hard work and is not gendered despite the sound.
Practice
A teacher thanks a volunteer for doing yeoman's work. She means the volunteer ___.
Choose one answer.
Yeoman's work is praise for steady, hard effort. The others are criticisms or unrelated.
Make it your own
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