paperwork

The word “paperwork” means routine administrative work involving forms, records, and other documents. In plain terms, the forms and written records that go along with a job or process — often used to mean tedious admin.

“Paperwork” is pronounced PAY-p-wk (/ˈpeɪ.pɚˌwɝk/ in IPA).

Here is “paperwork” used in a sentence: “Filing all this paperwork takes longer than the actual job.”

Words with a similar meaning to “paperwork” include administrativia and administrivia.

“Paperwork” is a noun.

“Paperwork” is an uncommon word in modern English, usually learned at around the B2 level.

Paperwork refers to the actual forms, records, and documents that need completing, while bureaucracy refers to the wider system of rules and officials that requires them. Paperwork is the task; bureaucracy is the structure that generates it.

Paperwork is frequently paired with verbs like "do," "fill out," "file," "process," and "catch up on," as in "catch up on paperwork" or "process the paperwork." It also combines with adjectives such as "mountain of" or "backlog of" to describe a large volume of pending documents.

Paperwork is an uncountable noun, so it does not take a plural form and is not used with "a" or numbers. You would say "a lot of paperwork" or "some paperwork," not "a paperwork" or "paperworks."