fieldwork

noun

field·​work ˈfēld-ˌwərk 

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

field-worker

ˈfēld-ˌwər-kər 

noun

Examples of fieldwork in a Sentence

an anthropologist who has done fieldwork in the South Pacific

Recent Examples on the Web

Our fieldwork in the Bay Area provides some answers. —Jamie Chang, Mercury News, 12 June 2025

Partisanship is a related factor in this poll, produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates with fieldwork by Ipsos. —Jaclyn S. Wong, ABC News, 28 Apr. 2025

All of The Nat’s departments — including Birds and Mammals, Entomology, Herpetology, Botany and even Paleontology — are conducting extensive fieldwork at the 20 sites, collecting data on a wide range of species. —Contributing, Oc Register, 4 June 2025

In a corrective to tech journalism that rarely leaves Silicon Valley, Hao ranges well beyond the Bay Area with extensive fieldwork in Kenya, Colombia and Chile. —Tim Wu, New York Times, 19 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1686, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for fieldwork

• artwork
• beadwork
• berserk
• breastwork
• brickwork
• brushwork
• casework
• classwork
• clockwork
• coursework
• ductwork
• earthwork