WORKINGS

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does workings mean? 

• WORKINGS (noun)
  The noun WORKINGS has 2 senses:

1. the internal mechanism of a device

2. a mine or quarry that is being or has been worked

  Familiarity information: WORKINGS used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WORKINGS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The internal mechanism of a device

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

workings; works

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

mechanism (device consisting of a piece of machinery; has moving parts that perform some function)

Domain usage:

plural; plural form (the form of a word that is used to denote more than one)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A mine or quarry that is being or has been worked

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

working; workings

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

excavation (a hole in the ground made by excavating)

 Context examples 

Together they control all the workings of the body.

(Neurologic Diseases, NIH)

St. John continued—It is hard work to control the workings of inclination and turn the bent of nature; but that it may be done, I know from experience.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Instruments used by Ocean Observatories Initiative scientists are giving us new opportunities to understand the inner workings of this volcano and the mechanisms that trigger volcanic eruptions in many environments.

(Underwater volcano's fiery eruption captured in detail by seafloor observatory, NSF)

The study of the internal workings of cells at the microscopic and molecular level.

(Cell Biology, NCI Thesaurus)

Researchers have developed a “placenta-on-a-chip” to study the inner workings of the human placenta and its role in pregnancy.

(Researchers design placenta-on-a-chip to better understand pregnancy, NIH)

What could more plainly speak the gloomy workings of a mind not wholly dead to every sense of humanity, in its fearful review of past scenes of guilt?

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

A massive dataset has revealed patterns in the regions where coccolithophores live, illuminating the inner workings of the ocean carbon cycle.

(Study reveals changing patterns in globally important algae, National Science Foundation)

The psychology of it is sadly tangled, and yet I could read the workings of his mind as clearly as though it were a printed book.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The researchers say their finding could provide the basis for drug therapies that could mimic the workings of this gene mutation, offering a potential benefit for the millions of people who suffer with diabetes, heart disease, and obesity.

(Gene mutation points to new way to fight diabetes, obesity, heart disease, National Institutes of Health)

He gave this opinion as the result of the conversation to his father; and recommended there being nothing more said to her: no farther attempts to influence or persuade; but that everything should be left to Crawford's assiduities, and the natural workings of her own mind.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)