works

Works is the plural of work and has multiple related meanings. It can refer to the activity of producing something through effort (labor) or to the resulting products, results, or creations. In grammar, works is also the third-person singular present tense of the verb to work.

In the arts and humanities, works commonly denotes individual creations such as novels, paintings, musical compositions, or films, and, collectively, an author's oeuvre or body of work. When assembled as a single collection, they are described as Complete Works or The Works of … and are a focus of bibliographies and scholarly study.

In industry and infrastructure, the term occurs in expressions such as construction works, engineering works, or waterworks, referring to facilities, sites, or processes where production, assembly, or treatment takes place. The phrase can denote the physical structures involved as well as the activities carried out at those sites.

Usage varies by context, but in general “works” marks a shift from a single unit to a set, range, or system. It is used across fields—literature, film, music, engineering, and library science—to describe either the outputs of labor or the places and systems by which those outputs are produced.