Standard Lemma guide

workpiece

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈwɜːkpiːs/
  • General-American: /ˈwɜɹkˌpis/
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A partially finished object (often composed of a raw material) which is subjected to various operations, worked on with tools, etc.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: arts, business, carpentry, construction, crafts, engineering, hobbies, lifestyle, machining, manufacturing, mechanical-engineering, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, woodworking

Examples

  • Make sure the workpiece is properly secured in the chuck before turning on the lathe.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

work consisting of a piece of metal being machined

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: work, piece of work

History

Etymology

From work (noun) + piece (noun), a calque of German Werkstück (“piece of work; object being worked on”).

Across languages

Translations

15 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Azerbaijani: pəstah — partially finished object subjected to various operations, worked on with tools, etc.
  • Bulgarian: загото́вка (zagotóvka) — partially finished object subjected to various operations, worked on with tools, etc.
  • Chinese Mandarin: 工件 (gōngjiàn) — partially finished object subjected to various operations, worked on with tools, etc.
  • Czech: obrobek — partially finished object subjected to various operations, worked on with tools, etc.
  • Dutch: werkstuk — partially finished object subjected to various operations, worked on with tools, etc.
  • Finnish: työkappale — partially finished object subjected to various operations, worked on with tools, etc.
  • German: Werkstück — partially finished object subjected to various operations, worked on with tools, etc.
  • Hungarian: munkadarab — partially finished object subjected to various operations, worked on with tools, etc.
  • Kazakh: дайындама (daiyndama) — partially finished object subjected to various operations, worked on with tools, etc.
  • Mongolian: бэлдэц (beldec) — partially finished object subjected to various operations, worked on with tools, etc.
  • Norwegian Bokmål: arbeidsstykke — partially finished object subjected to various operations, worked on with tools, etc.
  • Polish: obrabiany przedmiot — partially finished object subjected to various operations, worked on with tools, etc.
  • Russian: загото́вка (zagotóvka) — partially finished object subjected to various operations, worked on with tools, etc.
  • Slovene: obdelovanec — partially finished object subjected to various operations, worked on with tools, etc.
  • Spanish: pieza de trabajo — partially finished object subjected to various operations, worked on with tools, etc.
Real reading context

workpiece in complete knowledge articles