Etymologically
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groundwork

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈɡɹaʊndˌwɜːɹk/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English ground + work, with work in its older sense of a structure or building.[2][3][4][5] Similar compounds are Middle Dutch grontwerck, Dutch grondwerk and German Grundwerk.[3][4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The foundation of a building or wall, the solid base on which a structure stands: Etymonline dates the word to the mid-15th century,[2] Merriam-Webster to the 15th century[6] and the Shorter Oxford to late Middle English,[4] while the OED's first quotation is from John Cheke's translation of St Matthew's Gospel, before 1557,[3] and Dictionary.com dates it 1540–50.[5]

Semantic evolution

The figurative use, the basis of something immaterial, followed almost at once, in the Whittingham Bible of 1557,[3][2] and is now the main sense, while the literal sense of a building's foundation has become rare.[3][4] Johnson (1755) defined it as "the ground; the first stratum; the first part of the whole; that to which the rest is additional".[7] From 1658 it was also the base on which other parts are laid, as in embroidery or painting,[3] and Charles Lamb used it in 1822 for the main ingredient of something.[3] Two sporting senses were added: fielding the ball on the ground in cricket (1898) and exercises done lying on the floor in boxing and judo (1906).[3] Today the word is used above all for preliminary work and preparation, especially in the phrase lay the groundwork.[4][6]

Timeline

  • 1400s – the foundation of a building.[2][6][4] The OED's first quotation is from before 1557, in Cheke.[3]
  • before 1557 – verb, to lay the foundations of (an isolated use).[3]
  • 1557 – figurative, the basis of something immaterial.[3][2]
  • 1574 – a ground plan (obsolete).[3]
  • 1655 – working in the earth (obsolete).[3]
  • 1658 – the base on which other parts are laid, as in embroidery or painting.[3]
  • 1822 – the principal ingredient of something (rare).[3]
  • 1898 – in cricket, ground-fielding.[3]
  • 1906 – in boxing and judo, exercises done lying on the floor.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A foundation or basis for something; work done beforehand as a preparation: Their research laid the groundwork for a new treatment.[6][8][4]
  2. (now rare) The solid base on which a building or other structure stands.[3][4]
  3. The base on which other parts are laid or shown, as in embroidery or painting.[3]
  4. (cricket) Fielding the ball along the ground.[3]
  5. (boxing, judo) Exercises done while lying on the floor.[3]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt