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  • (file)

Noun edit

donkey work (uncountable)

  1. (idiomatic) Hard, boring, routine work.
    Why does everyone else get the interesting work while I have to do all the donkey work?
    • 2019, Bernardine Evaristo, Girl, Woman, Other, Penguin Books (2020), page 161:
      Labi said she did not need to carry planks of wood on her head any more, it was donkey work for idiots
    • 2022, The Atlantic:
      But what looks like donkeywork is a necessary step in a formulaic approach, a set of prescribed practices that have their own embedded wisdom.

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