English Reference
noun

workload

n.
US /ˈwɝˌkɫoʊd/ UK /wˈɜːkləʊd/ work·load UK spelling workloads

  1. 01 B2 Upper Intermediate Academic

    the amount of work you are expected to finish in a day, week, or month.

    the quantity of work assigned to or expected from a particular worker or team.

    Simple

    The manager promised to hire more staff to help reduce our heavy workload.

    In context

    The university implemented a new policy to monitor staff workload, ensuring that research and teaching responsibilities remained balanced throughout the semester.

    Usage

    Often used with verbs like 'manage', 'increase', or 'reduce'.

    Teacher's tip

    In professional contexts, this often implies the pressure or stress caused by having too much to do.

  2. 02 C1 Advanced Technical Computing

    the amount of processing or data a computer or machine is handling.

    the amount of processing or computational tasks being performed by a system or network.

    Simple

    The server crashed because the workload was too high during the sale.

    In context

    Cloud engineers use auto-scaling to ensure that the infrastructure can handle a sudden spike in the application's workload without any downtime.

    Usage

    Commonly used in the context of cloud computing and server management.

But McLenaghan said if there were three people on the panel, like the UFU had requested, they could "share the workload" and it could be completed faster.

BBC News· 17 Aug 2026

The results indicated that the technology could improve testing and doctors’ workloads.

Smithsonian Magazine· 29 Jul 2026

From work + load.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry
Level B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency Frequent
Updated