make-work
See also: makework
English
Alternative forms
- makework
Etymology
From make + work.
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈmeɪkwəːk/
Audio (US) (file)
Noun
make-work (uncountable)
- (chiefly US) An activity or task assigned or undertaken for the sake of activity or busy-ness, rather than because of a particular need. [from 20th c.]
- 2011 November 10, Lord Gilbert, House of Lords Hansard:
- I once described this rather vulgarly as a Euro-wanking make-work project and I do not resile from that.
- 2011, Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Penguin 2012, p. 802:
- They are more sympathetic to immigration, free markets, and free trade, and less sympathetic to protectionism, make-work policies, and government intervention in business.
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Derived terms
- make-work job
See also
- activity trap
- busy work