travail

[truh-veyl, trav-eyl]

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.

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

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for travails

woe, agony, anguish, tribulation, exertion, stress, distress, work, suffering, labor, drudgery, toil, childbirth, effort, parturition, pains

Examples from the Web for travails

Contemporary Examples of 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
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
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
It was he who guided us through the travails of early adulthood.
My Eulogy for My Father, Murray Frum
David Frum
May 31, 2013
That quip reflected his own travails with thinking outside the box.
Peter Worthington on Thinking Outside the Box
David Frum
May 17, 2013

Historical Examples of travails

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
Seeing the splendor reserved for itself, it groans and travails unceasingly.
Epistle Sermons, Vol. III
Martin Luther
His heart yearns towards them; he travails over them in birth again.
The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Galatians
G. G. Findlay
The Travails dealt with a matter of ephemeral interest, and would not long have held the public.
Francis Beaumont: Dramatist
Charles Mills Gayley

British Dictionary definitions for travails

travail

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.