New Delhi, March 31 -- The word "work" has become loaded with meanings, is weighed down by multiple connotations and teems with social divisions. But what is work? Some view it as a four-letter word signifying a quotidian preoccupation, the root of a humdrum existence but an unavoidable necessity. Others see it through the lens of privilege and entitlement, a ticket to material achievement and status. Many find it an opportunity to do something different, make a difference to society. Philosophically, work is viewed as the converse of not-work, which can be play or leisure, thereby investing both work and not-work with certain value sets.

In the New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, lexicographers have dedicated close to two pages to de...