social workn.
/ˈsəʊʃl wəːk/, U.S. /ˈsoʊʃəl ˌwərk/ Work of benefit to those in need of help or welfare; esp. such work provided by trained professionals for those with family or social problems.
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society > society and the community > social attitudes > philanthropy > [noun] > social service or work
human service1708
social service1795
social work1847
sociolatry1854
welfare work1903
1847 Literary Examiner 22 May 323/1 There has been no great social work, no cause in any way affecting the larger interests of humanity, which has not had its active, zealous, and foremost advocates among the society of Friends.
1892 Ann. Amer. Acad. Polit. & Social Sci. 3 76 The growth of the Krupp cast steel works and the motives of the firm in their social work.
1908 Busy Man's Mag. Jan. 88/1 Few who read Mrs. Humphrey Ward's interesting books know of her social work in London.
1931 Economist 10 Jan. 57/1 For in spite of the very considerable development which organised social work has attained in the United States..it is not capable of shouldering the responsibility of caring for the wreckage of a major industrial depression.
1979 G. Wagner Barnardo xvii. 299 No teacher training colleges or social work courses existed.
2002 J. Fook Social Work: Crit. Theory & Pract. (2003) xii. 158 Workers who did not experience burnout were those who maintained a broader vision of the mission of social work.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1847- to go gay
- to go gentle into that good night
- to go gentle on
- to go gentle with
- to go ghost
- to go girling
- to go glib upon the sear
- to go glimmering
- to go gold
- to go grand slam
- to go great guns
- to go gunning
- to go half-and-half
- to go halfandhalf
- to go halfsies
- to go halfway
- to go halves
- to go hand and glove with
- to go hand in glove
- to go hand in glove with
- to go hand in hand
- to go hand in hand with
- to go hang
- to go hard with
- to go hat in hand to