travail

American  

[truh-veyl, trav-eyl] / trəˈveɪl, ˈtræv eɪl /

noun

1. painfully difficult or burdensome work; toil.

   Synonyms:

   moil, labor

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

   Synonyms:

   agony, torment

3. the pain of childbirth.

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verb (used without object)

1. to suffer the pangs of childbirth; be in labor.

2. to toil or exert oneself.

travail British  

/ ˈtræveɪl /

noun

1. painful or excessive labour or exertion

2. the pangs of childbirth; labour

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verb

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

Etymology

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 ( tri-, pale ² ); (noun) Middle English < Old French: suffering, derivative of travailler

Example Sentences

Mulaney's second personal travail – which he does not address at all – was his highly publicized divorce from Anna-Marie Tendler and subsequent relationship with Olivia Munn with whom he had a child.

From Salon • May 3, 2023

Le mois dernier, l’astronaute français Thomas Pesquet l’a contacté par email pour lui dire son admiration de son travail et lui proposer d’emporter une de ses oeuvres sur la Lune.

From New York Times • Feb. 12, 2023

Hurston was a “keen strategist of racial deference,” and her views on America’s racial travail clashed with those of another project writer and seminal Black author, Richard Wright.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 8, 2021

Forty is a biblical number, used as shorthand for a long period of isolation and travail.

From Washington Post • Nov. 10, 2020

He saw him through his travail of celibacy and felt that he was guiding him into calm waters.

From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck

Related Words

• agony
• anguish
• tribulation
• woe