DEFINITIONS
The
2019 WORD
OF THE YEAR is...

toil

1
[ toil ]
/ tɔɪl /
SEE SYNONYMS FOR toil ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

hard and continuous work; exhausting labor or effort.
a laborious task.
Archaic. battle; strife; struggle.

verb (used without object)

to engage in hard and continuous work; labor arduously: to toil in the fields.
to move or travel with difficulty, weariness, or pain.

verb (used with object)

to accomplish or produce by toil.

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Words related to toil

exertion, sweat, strive, travail, industry, labor, application, drudgery, moil, effort, occupation, pains, plug, slave, plod, work, drive, grind, strain, struggle

Words nearby toil

togs, togue, toheroa, tohubohu, tohunga, toil, toile, toile de jouy, toilet, toilet bowl, toilet paper

Origin of toil

1
1250–1300; Middle English toile (noun), toilen (v.) < Anglo-French toil contention, toiler to contend < Latin tudiculāre to stir up, beat, verbal derivative of tudicula machine for crushing olives, equivalent to tudi- (stem of tundere to beat) + -cula -cule2

SYNONYMS FOR toil

1 exertion, travail, pains. See work.
4 strive, moil.
SEE SYNONYMS FOR toil ON THESAURUS.COM

OTHER WORDS FROM toil

toil·er, nounun·toil·ing, adjective

Definition for toil (2 of 2)

toil2
[ toil ]
/ tɔɪl /

noun

Usually toils. 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.
Usually toils. trap; snare: to be caught in the toils of a gigantic criminal conspiracy.
Archaic. any snare or trap for wild beasts.

Origin of toil

2
1520–30; < French toile < Latin tēla web
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for toil

British Dictionary definitions for toil (1 of 2)

toil1
/ (tɔɪl) /

noun

hard or exhausting work
an obsolete word for strife

verb

(intr) to labour
(intr) to progress with slow painful movementsto toil up a hill
(tr) archaic to achieve by toil

Derived forms of toil

toiler, noun

Word Origin for toil

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

British Dictionary definitions for toil (2 of 2)

toil2
/ (tɔɪl) /

noun

(often plural) a net or snarethe toils of fortune had ensnared him
archaic a trap for wild beasts

Word Origin for toil

C16: from Old French toile, from Latin tēla loom
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012