laboured
Britishadjective
-
(of breathing) performed with difficulty
-
showing effort; contrived; lacking grace or fluency
Other Word Forms
- labouredly adverb
- labouredness noun
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Firefighters were trying to extinguish the blazes in the still-smoldering rubble, while rescue workers laboured to pull victims from the debris and bulldozers tried to clear a path.
From Barron's • Apr. 8, 2026
Keys, who upset Aryna Sabalenka in last year's final, admitted after her laboured first-round win that she was a bundle of nerves and "too timid".
From Barron's • Jan. 22, 2026
We have laboured the point about England's limited preparation, but a lot of what we feared came true in the first Test.
From BBC • Nov. 24, 2025
Germany's qualification hopes still rest on their final Group A match on Monday at home to Slovakia despite a Nick Woltemade brace giving them a laboured 2-0 win at Luxembourg.
From Barron's • Nov. 14, 2025
But something was definitely gone, and they looked laboured, almost like they’d been copied.
From "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
