labor

labor

noun

Definition of LABOR

1

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 bear, beast, headache, job, killer, labor

Related Words drudgery, grind, heavy lifting, lucubration; effort, strain, sweat; burden, load, weight; bother, nuisance, trouble

Near Antonyms breeze, child's play, cinch, duck soup, kid stuff, setup, snap

2

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>

Synonyms elbow grease, exertion, expenditure, labor, pains, sweat, trouble, while, work

Related Words drudgery, grind, slog, strain, toil, travail; dint, energy; force, might, muscle, power, puissance; attempt, endeavor, essay, fling, go, pass, shot, stab, trial, try, whack

Near Antonyms adroitness, ease, facility, fluency, smoothness; dormancy, idleness, inaction, inactivity, indolence, inertia, languor, laziness, quiescence

3

very hard or unpleasant work <a political dissident forced to do six months of hard labor in the salt mines as punishment>

Synonyms donkeywork, drudge, drudgery, fatigue, grind, labor, moil, slavery, sweat, travail

Related Words spadework; effort, exertion, pains, struggle, trouble; chore, duty, job, obligation, responsibility; routine, tedium, treadmill

Near Antonyms decompression, ease, leisure, relaxation, repose, rest; amusement, dalliance, diversion, entertainment, recreation, sport; dormancy, idleness, inactivity, inertia, inertness; dallying, goldbricking, loafing, lolling, lounging

Antonyms fun, play

4

the act or process of giving birth to children <the mother's labor lasted for six hours>

Synonyms accouchement, childbearing, delivery, labor, parturition, travail

Related Words birth pang, contraction, pains; pregnancy; abortion, miscarriage; cesarean section (or caesarean section), natural childbirth; childbed, confinement, lying-in

5

something produced by physical or intellectual effort <a small, personal film that was clearly a labor of love for the director and actors>

Synonyms affair, fruit, handiwork, labor, output, produce, production, thing, work, yield

Related Words article, commodity, entry, object; goods, line, merchandise, wares; handcraft, handicraft; aftereffect, aftermath, conclusion, consequence, corollary, development, effect, issue, outcome, result, resultant, sequel, sequence, upshot; by-product, derivative, offshoot, offspring, outgrowth, residual, side effect (also side reaction), spin-off