Hard-working means putting steady effort into everything you do. Not necessarily quick or clever — reliable, and always at it.
It is one of the most common compliments in references and job applications, so hard-working and reliable is close to a fixed pairing. Politics uses hard-working families constantly, which has been repeated so often that it has stopped meaning very much. British English usually keeps the hyphen and American English often drops it. Diligent and industrious are the more formal alternatives.
1adjectivehard-workingPutting steady effort into work.
“She is hard-working and gets on with everyone.”
Also accepted in games: diligent, hardworking
hardworking comes from hard + working.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Feelings & Character, A Man Called Ove
First appears in chapter 10 of A Man Called Ove.
Practise this word