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

Once freed from slavery, Washington toiled in coal mines, worked as a janitor in exchange for formal education and became a great American orator and leader of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.

Read more on Salon

Keuer wonders if the work is worth it, noting how hard he toils for little pay.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Six days later, he toiled again during a “frustrating” outing in Pittsburgh, yielding a season-high nine hits and five runs to the lowly Pirates.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Mr. Potter provides a master class in how our world produces the “abundance” that “has freed us from a life of near-constant toil.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Even today, postdoctorates toil at universities doing biotech research before being hired by drug companies.

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.