# grunt work

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/grunt-work
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

Work (especially that which is heavy, repetitive or mindless) that is considered undesirable and therefore delegated to underlings.

## Examples

- I hate doing the grunt work at the office.
- New employees usually handle the grunt work in the kitchen.
- You do the grunt work while I talk to the customers.
- The intern spent the entire afternoon doing grunt work like filing papers and organizing old files.
- Before we can start the creative part of the project, we need to finish the grunt work of cleaning the data.
- He spent his first week at the construction site doing the grunt work of carrying heavy bricks.
- The lead researcher spent months designing the study, but she hired three students to handle the grunt work of labeling thousands of photos for the experiment.
- While the senior partners focused on high-level strategy, the junior associates were left to handle the tedious grunt work required to prepare the case for trial.

## Origin

Derived from the verb grunt, which imitates the short, guttural sound of physical exertion. The compound appears in the mid-20th century to designate labour that is repetitive, menial, and perhaps best suited to those capable of making such noises.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.