toil

¹ American  

[toil] / tɔɪl /

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.

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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 American  

[toil] / tɔɪl /

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.

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toil ¹ British  

/ tɔɪl /

noun

1. hard or exhausting work

2. an obsolete word for strife

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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 British  

/ tɔɪl /

noun

1. (often plural) a net or snare

   the toils of fortune had ensnared him

2. archaic a trap for wild beasts

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Usage

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. 

Other Word Forms

• toiler
  noun
• untoiling
  adjective

Etymology

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”

Explanation

Toil is another word for work. You toil as a customer service rep all day, but you'd prefer to work as a rock goddess. Unfortunately, there weren't many ads in the employment section for goddesses — rock or otherwise. Although toil means "work" (in both its noun and verb forms), it usually has the added meaning of hard work, especially physical labor. If you'd lived during the Great Depression, you might have toiled on roadwork and conservation projects. Your toils would have created roads in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, for example. Thanks for all your hard work! Now, relax and enjoy the scenery.

Example Sentences

So it shouldn’t be surprising that women have played a central role in inventing products that reduced the physical toil of daily housework.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026

Most toil on the building sites of the Gulf and Saudi Arabia or in hotels and factories there, while others work in India and Malaysia.

From Barron's • Feb. 16, 2026

The results of McCartney’s unceasing post-Beatles toil are evinced by the stats.

From Salon • Nov. 3, 2025

Golf is scratching his sporting itch at the moment - his handicap is down to single figures - and even watching Scotland's footballers toil against Belarus at Hampden has not unduly affected his sunny disposition.

From BBC • Oct. 15, 2025

San Piedro children delighted in their field toil in part because of the social life it provided, in part because it furnished the illusion that a job had been included in the summer’s proceedings.

From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson

Related Words

• strive
• sweat