travail
painfully difficult or burdensome work; toil.
pain, anguish or suffering resulting from mental or physical hardship.
the pain of childbirth.
to suffer the pangs of childbirth; be in labor.
to toil or exert oneself.
Origin of travail
1Other words for travail
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use travail in a sentence
He returned home a pauper without a pension and 50 years later, at 70, chronicled the travails of the War of Independence.
The whole history of Western film and TV is mostly the travails of wealthy people with problems only the wealthy can understand.
Complaining Like It’s 1999: ‘Fight Club,’ ‘American Beauty,’ and the Revolt of the Cubicle Drone | Arthur Chu | June 3, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIra is classic Moore; his travails feature her signature blend of absurdity and desperation.
It was he who guided us through the travails of early adulthood.
That quip reflected his own travails with thinking outside the box.
They took with them two dogs, which drew well-laden travails (sledges), and hoped to arrive there in about nine days.
And so I leave the Captain, walking slowly, already forgetful of my recent travails, blind to the things about me.
'Neath Verdun, August-October, 1914 | Maurice GenevoixHis heart yearns towards them; he travails over them in birth again.
The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Galatians | G. G. FindlayBetter travails, I suppose, had the Stoics taken in this argument, as far as I can gather by that which we have at second hand.
The Advancement of Learning | Francis BaconMore often the emotion precedes the conception; the vague, awed sense of God travails till a new thought is born among men.
The Right and Wrong Uses of the Bible | R. Heber Newton
British Dictionary definitions for travail
/ (ˈtræveɪl) literary /
painful or excessive labour or exertion
the pangs of childbirth; labour
(intr) to suffer or labour painfully, esp in childbirth
Origin of travail
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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