- 1閒差、為了讓人有事做而給的工作
Make-work is work that does not really need doing. Someone gives it to you so you look busy, or so a group of people still have jobs. A make-work project might be copying papers that nobody will read, or digging a hole and filling it in again. The feeling is dry and a bit angry: the work is fake in purpose, even if your hands are actually moving. You hear it about offices, armies, and governments. It is not homework, and it is not work you make for yourself because you care. It is work made so that idle hands have something to hold.
「make-work」指其實不需要做的工作。有人派給你，可能是為了讓你看起來很忙，也可能是為了讓一群人仍然有工作做。例如抄寫沒有人會讀的文件，或挖一個洞再把它填回去。這個字的感覺乾澀，還帶一點憤怒，因為工作的目的是假的，即使手真的在動。
常聽到用在辦公室、軍隊和政府。它不是功課，也不是出於關心而為自己找的工作，而是為了讓閒著的人手上有事可做而產生的工作。
From the word’s history
A compound of make + work.
由 make 加 work 組成。
組成From make + work: work that is made in order to keep people busy.
原始詞典資料1 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
make-worknoun/ˈmeɪkwəːk/
- 1
An activity or task assigned or undertaken for the sake of activity or busy-ness, rather than because of a particular need.
- I once described this rather vulgarly as a Euro-wanking make-work project and I do not resile from that.
- They are more sympathetic to immigration, free markets, and free trade, and less sympathetic to protectionism, make-work policies, and government intervention in business.
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。