hackwork

English

Etymology

From hack +‎ work.

Noun

hackwork (countable and uncountable, plural hackworks)

1. (informal) Work that is usually of a professional nature, either repetitive or following a certain formula.
   • 1978, Andrew Sinclair, Jack. A Biography of Jack London., page 56:

     During those fifteen months, he cannot have earned more than $10 a month from writing, mostly from the worst sort of hackwork

   • 2019 July 3, Mike D'Angelo, “Oscar Isaac and Ben Affleck blunder through a heavy heist in J.C. Chandor’s Triple Frontier”, in AV Club‎, archived from the original on 21 November 2019:

     Early on, the film even blunders into outright hackwork, employing laughably literal-minded needle drops.

2. (informal, somewhat derogatory) Any type of work that is dull or unoriginal.