travail

[ truh-veyl, trav-eyl ]

/ trəˈveɪl, ˈtræv eɪl /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR travail 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.

Nearby words

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

SYNONYMS FOR travail

1. labor, moil. 2. torment, agony.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR travail ON THESAURUS.COM

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for travails

He returned home a pauper without a pension and 50 years later, at 70, chronicled the travails of the War of Independence.
McCain’s 13 Favorite Soldiers|Sandra McElwaine|November 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The whole history of Western film and TV is mostly the travails of wealthy people with problems only the wealthy can understand.
Complaining Like It’s 1999: ‘Fight Club,’ ‘American Beauty,’ and the Revolt of the Cubicle Drone|Arthur Chu|June 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Ira is classic Moore; his travails feature her signature blend of absurdity and desperation.
This Week’s Hot Reads: February 18, 2014|Mythili Rao|February 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It was he who guided us through the travails of early adulthood.
My Eulogy for My Father, Murray Frum|David Frum|May 31, 2013|DAILY BEAST

That quip reflected his own travails with thinking outside the box.
Peter Worthington on Thinking Outside the Box|David Frum|May 17, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The Travails dealt with a matter of ephemeral interest, and would not long have held the public.
Francis Beaumont: Dramatist|Charles Mills Gayley
His heart yearns towards them; he travails over them in birth again.
The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Galatians|G. G. Findlay
Seeing the splendor reserved for itself, it groans and travails unceasingly.
Epistle Sermons, Vol. III|Martin Luther
For duty is God's midwife, sent to deliver the soul that travails in its anguish.
St. Cuthbert's|Robert E. Knowles
No more then remember we our pains; our ship-wrecks and dangers are forgotten; we fear no more the travails and the thieves.
Some Noble Sisters|Edmund Lee

British Dictionary definitions for travails

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

Word Origin and History for travails

travail

"labor, toil," mid-13c., from Old French travail "suffering or painful effort, trouble" (12c.), from travailler "to toil, labor," originally "to trouble, torture," from Vulgar Latin *tripaliare "to torture," from *tripalium (in Late Latin trepalium) "instrument of torture," probably from Latin tripalis "having three stakes" (from tria, tres "three" + palus "stake"), which sounds ominous, but the exact notion is obscure. The verb is recorded from late 13c.