workmanship

/ˌwʌrkmənˈʃɪp/

/ˈwʌkmɪnʃɪp/

Other forms: workmanships

The noun workmanship can describe the hard work and skill that go into making something or working at a task — and it can also describe a quality of a handmade object that is skillfully crafted.

You show workmanship when you labor carefully over a project, and the beautiful hooked rug you create also shows workmanship. If your shop teacher admires the workmanship of your wooden footstool, she is complimenting the quality of your work. The fourteenth century meaning of workmanship was simply "laboring," and later it came to include the idea of "skill in work."

Definitions of workmanship

1. noun

   skill in an occupation or trade
   synonyms: craft, craftsmanship

   types:

   housecraft

   skill in domestic management

   priestcraft

   the skills involved in the work of a priest

   stagecraft

   skill in writing or staging plays

   tradecraft

   skill acquired through experience in a trade; often used to discuss skill in espionage

   watercraft

   skill in the management of boats

   woodcraft

   skill in carving or fashioning objects from wood

   coup de theatre

   a sensational bit of stagecraft

   type of:

   accomplishment, acquirement, acquisition, attainment, skill

   an ability that has been acquired by training