1
as in job
a dull, unpleasant, or difficult piece of work
one of the labors of Hercules in classical mythology was to clean out the stables of King Augeas
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in effort
the active use of energy in producing a result
a superhuman amount of labor must have gone into designing and building the pyramids of Egypt
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in toil
very hard or unpleasant work
a political dissident forced to do six months of hard labor in the salt mines as punishment
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
4
as in childbirth
the act or process of giving birth to children
the mother's labor lasted for six hours
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5
as in production
something produced by physical or intellectual effort
a small, personal film that was clearly a labor of love for the director and actors
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as in to struggle
to devote serious and sustained effort
the young lawyer labored most of the weekend over the difficult legal brief
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of labor
Chris West, Baltimore Sun, 12 June 2025
The federal government is responsible for enforcing labor laws, not aiding and abetting breaking them.
—Nicholas Creel, MSNBC Newsweek, 12 June 2025
Allison Pecorin, ABC News, 22 May 2025
The Mets pieced together a response in the fourth though, as Clarke Schmidt labored after previously denying the Queens club a baserunner.
—Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 17 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for labor
Noun
For all of the headlines about bad things that happen in Annapolis, Maryland citizens should be proud that our state government also, in its own quiet but effective way, labors to identify problems such as squatting and then fixes them.
—Chris West, Baltimore Sun, 12 June 2025
The federal government is responsible for enforcing labor laws, not aiding and abetting breaking them.
—Nicholas Creel, MSNBC Newsweek, 12 June 2025
Verb
Sources After laboring for days to push for steeper spending cuts and repeatedly railing against the spending that added to the bloated national deficit, many of the holdouts caved.
—Allison Pecorin, ABC News, 22 May 2025
The Mets pieced together a response in the fourth though, as Clarke Schmidt labored after previously denying the Queens club a baserunner.
—Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 17 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for labor
Recent Examples of Synonyms for labor
Noun
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The unemployment rate is hovering at just over 4%, and employers have added a solid number of jobs each month.—
David Goldman,
CNN Money,
5 June 2025
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For manufacturing to continue growing our economy, creating jobs and developing the best products in the world, the United States must update its permitting laws and procedures.—
Matt Robison,
MSNBC Newsweek,
5 June 2025
Noun
-
Congressional Democrats are demanding that Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon cooperate with the agency’s Office of Inspector General review of the Trump administration’s efforts to overhaul the agency.—
Arthur Jones II,
ABC News,
4 June 2025
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The company-wide effort was announced on ABC’s Good Morning America Wednesday.—
Alex Weprin,
HollywoodReporter,
4 June 2025
Noun
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Kohli wiped the tears away and looked towards the heavens as all the pain washed away after years of toil and underachievement.—
Tristan Lavalette,
Forbes.com,
4 June 2025
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In the microcosm, every player, staff member, and yes, possibly even executive, has their own individual story of overcoming and toil which, on Saturday night, was realised in the glare of a thousand camera flashes.—
Jacob Whitehead,
New York Times,
2 June 2025
Noun
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Women will learn what bodily changes to expect after giving birth, how to prepare for childbirth and how to maximize recovery.—
Orlando Sentinel Staff,
The Orlando Sentinel,
5 June 2025
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Clinton: Medicaid pays for about 40% of all childbirth and pays for an enormous percentage of senior citizens' health care and a lot of other stuff.—
Clare Mulroy,
USA Today,
3 June 2025
Noun
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The production is nominated for five Tony Awards, including Clooney for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play.—
Matt Webb Mitovich,
TVLine,
10 June 2025
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As has been the case in previous years, there are also several titles screening that made varying degrees of use of AI during their production.—
Jamie Lang,
Variety,
10 June 2025
Verb
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Both ended up struggling to hold their country together, let alone effect the changes that their activist supporters had hoped to see.—
E. Tammy Kim,
New Yorker,
4 June 2025
-
Both players have struggled with runners in scoring position this season, but that wasn’t the case Tuesday.—
Jaylon Thompson,
Kansas City Star,
4 June 2025
Noun
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More severe cases of salmonellosis may include a high fever, aches, headaches, lethargy, a rash, blood in the urine or stool, and in some cases may become fatal.—
Jasmine Laws,
MSNBC Newsweek,
4 June 2025
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Its stern warnings are scary and uncomfortable--the headaches, indigestion, muscle spasms, body aches, clenched teeth or knots in your chest.—
Bryan Robinson,
Forbes.com,
4 June 2025
Noun
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There’s a deep yearning and caring at work here that is the film’s idiosyncratic strength, but also may be its weakness, plausibility-wise.—
Lisa Kennedy,
Variety,
13 June 2025
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The House narrowly voted Thursday to cut about $9.4 billion in spending already approved by Congress as President Donald Trump's administration looks to follow through on work done by the Department of Government Efficiency when it was overseen by Elon Musk.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
13 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Labor.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/labor. Accessed 18 Jun. 2025.
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