Definition

Noun 1. The internal mechanism of a device: The moving parts inside a machine or apparatus that make it function. 2. A mine or quarry that is being or has been worked: The tunnels, shafts, and excavations where mining or quarrying activity takes place.

Usage

• The workings of the old clock were intricate and beautifully crafted.
• Engineers needed to understand the inner workings of the engine to fix the problem.
• The abandoned tin workings were now dangerous and off-limits to the public.
• They conducted a safety inspection of the active mine workings.

Advanced Usage

• "inner workings": A common phrase used to describe the hidden or complex internal processes of a system, organization, or even a person's mind.
  • The book reveals the inner workings of the political campaign.
• The term can be used figuratively to describe the fundamental processes of abstract systems.
  • She studied the workings of the legal system.

Variants and Related Words

• Work (verb/noun): The root word, meaning to engage in physical or mental activity or the place where one is employed.
• Working (adjective/noun): Functioning or operating; or a single session of activity.
• Workable (adjective): Capable of being worked, shaped, or solved.

Synonyms

• (For mechanism): machinery, mechanism, internals, components, parts, cogs, gears.
• (For mine): excavation, mine, quarry, pit, diggings.

Related Phrases

• In working order: Functioning correctly.
  • The machine is in perfect working order.
• The workings of the mind: The cognitive processes of thinking and reasoning.
  • Psychologists try to understand the workings of the human mind.

Noun

1. a mine or quarry that is being or has been worked
2. the internal mechanism of a device