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hackwork

[ hak-wurk ]

noun

  1. writing, painting, or any professional work done for hire and usually following a formula rather than being motivated by any creative impulse.


hackwork

/ ˈhækˌwɜːk /

noun

  1. undistinguished literary work produced to order
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Word History and Origins

Origin of hackwork1

First recorded in 1850–55; hack 2 + work
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Example Sentences

He gets orders from Anthony Hopkins — last weekend an Academy Award-winning actor, this weekend a monologue dispenser in a turgid piece of hackwork — that he proceeds to screw up time and again.

But “A Play Is a Poem” is a pretentious title for such hackwork.

An initially clever exercise winds up feeling like the wrong kind of hackwork.

In this moment, when a guy who already seems like a cartoon character is president, how do how do you separate the hackwork, the easy, obvious stuff, from more nuanced and sophisticated work?

From Salon

The play being performed will come to be known as "Romeo and Juliet" once Will, infused with love and longing, chucks the idea of "Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter," choosing art over contrived hackwork.

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