travail

[ truh-veyl, trav-eyl ]

/ trəˈveɪl, ˈtræv eɪl /

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See synonyms for: travail / travailed / travailing / travails on Thesaurus.com

noun

painfully difficult or burdensome work; toil.

pain, anguish or suffering resulting from mental or physical hardship.

the pain of childbirth.

verb (used without object)

to suffer the pangs of childbirth; be in labor.

to toil or exert oneself.

OTHER WORDS FOR travail

1 labor, moil.

2 torment, agony.

See synonyms for travail on Thesaurus.com

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Origin of travail

1200–50; (v.) Middle English travaillen<Old French travaillier to torment <Vulgar Latin *trepaliāre to torture, derivative of Late Latin trepālium torture chamber, literally, instrument of torture made with three stakes (see tri-, pale²); (noun) Middle English <Old French: suffering, derivative of travailler

Words nearby travail

traumatic, traumatism, traumatize, traumatology, trav., travail, Travancore, trave, travel, travel agency, travel agent

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use travail in a sentence

Nothing symbolizes cryptocurrency’s troubles with regulators as well as the travails of Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by volume.
The world’s biggest crypto exchange is running into trouble everywhere|Samanth Subramanian|June 28, 2021|Quartz
That the show is able to weave these disparate story lines together as convincingly as it does is a testament to Matafeo’s irresistible invitation to empathize with the bittersweet travails of her character without a hint of self-pity.
Rom-com ‘Starstruck’ and coming-of-age comedy ‘We Are Lady Parts’ are this month’s hidden TV gems|Inkoo Kang|June 16, 2021|Washington Post
Voth worked a perfect ninth one game after closer Brad Hand blew his second save in three appearances and took his second loss over that span, prompting Martinez to issue unequivocal support for his bullpen despite recent travails.
A team meeting, Patrick Corbin’s strong start and Josh Bell’s blast lift Nats over Phillies|Gene Wang|May 13, 2021|Washington Post
Over the following weeks, the host used his perch on “Cuomo Prime Time” to deliver the headlines about the coronavirus, as well as to narrate his own travails with the disease.
CNN’s Chris Cuomo got special treatment from New York, confirming worst suspicions about media elites|Erik Wemple|March 25, 2021|Washington Post

The sport, of course, has endured Woods’s sustained absences — first following leg surgery, then after his personal travails that led to his divorce, then with his back issues.
Golf faces a future without its irreplaceable face|Barry Svrluga|February 25, 2021|Washington Post
He sat glum and thoughtful, his mind in unproductive travail, until the captain was announced.
St. Martin's Summer|Rafael Sabatini
How terrible that perpetual recommencement, that ocean bed, those Danaïdes-like clouds, all that travail and weariness for no end!
Toilers of the Sea|Victor Hugo
From the laborious travail of his brain issued at length an odd mass of arabesques with which the walls were somehow covered.
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 11, No. 24, March, 1873|Various
My nine weary months of arduous travail and half-frantic anticipation were cruelly wasted.
The Adventures of Louis de Rougemont|Louis de Rougemont
He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.
The Ordinance of Covenanting|John Cunningham

British Dictionary definitions for travail

travail

/ (ˈtræveɪl) literary /

noun

painful or excessive labour or exertion

the pangs of childbirth; labour

verb

(intr) to suffer or labour painfully, esp in childbirth

Word Origin for travail

C13: from Old French travaillier, from Vulgar Latin tripaliāre (unattested) to torture, from Late Latin trepālium instrument of torture, from Latin tripālis having three stakes, from trēs three + pālus stake

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

travail

OTHER WORDS FOR travail

Origin of travail

Words nearby travail

Words related to travail

How to use travail in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for travail

Word Origin for travail