"in the works" meaning in English

See in the works in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Prepositional phrase

Audio: En-au-in the works.ogg
Head templates: {{head|en|prepositional phrase|head=}} in the works, {{en-PP}} in the works
  1. (idiomatic) Being planned or worked upon. Tags: idiomatic Synonyms (being planned or worked upon): in the hopper Translations (being worked upon): työn alla (Finnish), sna fonsaí tógála (Irish), en bosquejo (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-in_the_works-en-prep_phrase-16ymNd4O Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with Irish translations, Terms with Spanish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 94 6 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 87 13 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 92 8 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 95 5 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 86 14 Disambiguation of Terms with Irish translations: 86 14 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 92 8 Disambiguation of 'being planned or worked upon': 99 1 Disambiguation of 'being worked upon': 96 4
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: In a mechanism or machine.
    Sense id: en-in_the_works-en-prep_phrase-i7YNNacb Categories (other): &lit not valid pagename
{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "prepositional phrase",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "in the works",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "in the works",
      "name": "en-PP"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep_phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "94 6",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "87 13",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "92 8",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "95 5",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "86 14",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "86 14",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Irish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "92 8",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "They always have some wonderful new project in the works.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Being planned or worked upon."
      ],
      "id": "en-in_the_works-en-prep_phrase-16ymNd4O",
      "links": [
        [
          "plan",
          "plan"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Being planned or worked upon."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "99 1",
          "sense": "being planned or worked upon",
          "word": "in the hopper"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "96 4",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "being worked upon",
          "word": "työn alla"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 4",
          "code": "ga",
          "lang": "Irish",
          "sense": "being worked upon",
          "word": "sna fonsaí tógála"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "96 4",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "being worked upon",
          "word": "en bosquejo"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "&lit not valid pagename",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Be careful not to get any debris in the works.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: In a mechanism or machine."
      ],
      "id": "en-in_the_works-en-prep_phrase-i7YNNacb",
      "links": [
        [
          "mechanism",
          "mechanism"
        ],
        [
          "machine",
          "machine"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-in the works.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/d9/En-au-in_the_works.ogg/En-au-in_the_works.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/En-au-in_the_works.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "in the works"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English prepositional phrases",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "Terms with Irish translations",
    "Terms with Spanish translations"
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "prepositional phrase",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "in the works",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "in the works",
      "name": "en-PP"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep_phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "They always have some wonderful new project in the works.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Being planned or worked upon."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "plan",
          "plan"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Being planned or worked upon."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "&lit not valid pagename",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Be careful not to get any debris in the works.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: In a mechanism or machine."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "mechanism",
          "mechanism"
        ],
        [
          "machine",
          "machine"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-in the works.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/d9/En-au-in_the_works.ogg/En-au-in_the_works.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/En-au-in_the_works.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "sense": "being planned or worked upon",
      "word": "in the hopper"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "being worked upon",
      "word": "työn alla"
    },
    {
      "code": "ga",
      "lang": "Irish",
      "sense": "being worked upon",
      "word": "sna fonsaí tógála"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "being worked upon",
      "word": "en bosquejo"
    }
  ],
  "word": "in the works"
}

Download raw JSONL data for in the works meaning in English (1.9kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (8a39820 and 4401a4c). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.