fieldwork

field·work | \ ˈfēld-ˌwərk

How to pronounce fieldwork (audio)

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Definition of fieldwork

1 : a temporary fortification thrown up by an army in the field

2 : work done in the field (as by students) to gain practical experience and knowledge through firsthand observation

3 : the gathering of anthropological or sociological data through the interviewing and observation of subjects in the field

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Examples of fieldwork in a Sentence

an anthropologist who has done fieldwork in the South Pacific

Recent Examples on the Web Utah State University ecologist Karen Beard says a night of fieldwork can leave her ears ringing. — Eleanor Cummins, Popular Science, "This frog’s signature chirp can be heavenly or hellish," 15 Jan. 2020 Additional fieldwork and experimental studies are needed to parse what might be going on in any cat species. — Riley Black, Smithsonian, "Why Are Black Leopards So Rare?," 18 Dec. 2019 Led by Professor Masato Sakai, the team used fieldwork and high-resolution 3D data to find the new images, which are thought to date back to at least 100 BC to AD 300, according to a news release. — Lauren M. Johnson, CNN, "More than 140 ancient geoglyphs were found carved in the sands of Peru," 20 Nov. 2019 Teams are expected to do all fieldwork and interviews themselves. — The Economist, "Estonia has a new way to stop speeding motorists," 7 Nov. 2019 Equally important as neuroscientific support is support from fieldwork, which has repeatedly shown that behaviors such as freezing enhance survival in the face of predators. — Dean Mobbs, Scientific American, "On the Nature of Fear," 20 Sep. 2019 Hovius first visited Taiwan to do fieldwork in the late 1990s, lured by the island's extreme climatic and tectonic forcing and its extensive scientific records. — Katherine Kornei, Science | AAAS, "A massive experiment in Taiwan aims to reveal landslides’ surprising effect on the climate," 20 Nov. 2019 Now the deputy director of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, Rosa first visited the region in 2000 to do fieldwork for her thesis. — Jenna Schnuer, National Geographic, "Exploring the Arctic can be life-changing. Here’s how to do it responsibly.," 25 Sep. 2019 After plenty of fieldwork and interviews, Turkle argued that too many of us are using technology in ways designed to kill solitude, relieve awkwardness, keep us feeling safe, and provide connection... on our terms. — Nate Anderson, Ars Technica, "“They’re abysmal students”: Are cell phones destroying the college classroom?," 27 Dec. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'fieldwork.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Dictionary Entries near fieldwork

field woundwort

Statistics for fieldwork

Last Updated

17 Feb 2020

Cite this Entry

“Fieldwork.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fieldwork. Accessed 17 Feb. 2020.

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