toil

¹

[toil]

noun

1. hard and continuous work; exhausting labor or effort.

   Synonyms: pains, travail, exertion
   Antonyms: sloth, indolence

2. a laborious task.

3. Archaic.,  battle; strife; struggle.

verb (used without object)

1. to engage in hard and continuous work; labor arduously.

   to toil in the fields.

   Synonyms: moil, strive

2. to move or travel with difficulty, weariness, or pain.

verb (used with object)

1. to accomplish or produce by toil.

toil

²

[toil]

noun

1. Usually toils

   1. a net or series of nets in which game known to be in the area is trapped or into which game outside of the area is driven.

   2. trap; snare.

      to be caught in the toils of a gigantic criminal conspiracy.

2. Archaic.,  any snare or trap for wild beasts.

toil

¹

/ tɔɪl /

noun

1. hard or exhausting work

2. an obsolete word for strife

verb

1. (intr) to labour

2. (intr) to progress with slow painful movements

   to toil up a hill

3. archaic,  (tr) to achieve by toil

toil

²

/ tɔɪl /

noun

1. (often plural) a net or snare

   the toils of fortune had ensnared him

2. archaic,  a trap for wild beasts

Other Word Forms

• toiler noun
• untoiling adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of toil¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English noun toil(e) “violent conflict, battle,” from Anglo-French toil(e), toyl “contention,” from Old French toeil, tooil “confusion, contention, battle,” ultimately from Latin tudiculāre “to stir up, beat,” verbal derivative of tudicula “machine for crushing olives,” equivalent to tudi- (stem of tundere “to strike, beat”) + -cula -cule ²

Origin of toil²

Fifst recorded in 1520–30; from French toile, from Latin tēla “web”

Word History and Origins

Origin of toil¹

C13: from Anglo-French toiler to struggle, from Old French toeillier to confuse, from Latin tudiculāre to stir, from tudicula machine for bruising olives, from tudes a hammer, from tundere to beat

Origin of toil²

C16: from Old French toile, from Latin tēla loom

Example Sentences

No way were they created from the blood, sweat and beers of toiling engineers, massive amounts of human ingenuity melded with trillions in capital delivered along land, ship and jet trade routes.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

He had toiled at car washes the whole time — crouching to scrub tires, stretching to dry roofs and returning home each night with aching heels and knots in his neck.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

He described toiling under the hot sun in fields where employers failed to provide shade for workers, as required by state law.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

When the laborers who bore the heat and toil of the full day’s work are jealous, the owner of the field asks them why they resent his generosity.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

In nearby Hermiston, Ore., where small armies of workers recently toiled at two data-center sites ringed by barbed-wire fences, officials are trying to annex land for additional development in a bet the boom will continue.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• strive 
• sweat 

When To Use

What are other ways to say toil?

The noun toil refers to hard and continuous work. How is toil different from drudgery, labor, and work? Find out on Thesaurus.com.