labor

noun

la·​bor ˈlā-bər 

plural labors

1

a

: expenditure of physical or mental effort especially when difficult or compulsory

was sentenced to six months at hard labor

b(1)

: the services performed by workers for wages as distinguished from those rendered by entrepreneurs for profits

(2)

: human activity that provides the goods or services in an economy

Industry needs labor for production.

c

: the physical activities (such as dilation of the cervix and contraction of the uterus) involved in giving birth

also : the period of such labor

2

a

: workers considered as a group

The institute … lacks the ready supply of cheap labor—graduate students—that teaching institutions have.

—Ann Gibbons

especially : an economic group comprising those who do manual labor or who work for wages (see wage entry 1 sense 1a) rather than a salary

wants the vote of labor in the elections

Organized labor [=labor unions considered as a group], for all its faults, acted as an effective countervailing power for decades, representing not just its own interests, but the interests of virtually the entire wage-earning class against the investor class.

—Kevin Drum

—often used before another noun

efforts to cut labor costs [=costs associated with paying workers]

see also labor force

b

: the organizations or officials that represent groups of workers

negotiations between labor and management

see also labor union

3

usually Labour : the Labour party of the United Kingdom or of another part of the Commonwealth of Nations

4

: an act or process requiring labor : task

The three-month project evolved into a year-long labor.

5

: a product of labor

The flood destroyed the labor of years.

Synonyms of labor

• job
• headache
• effort

Choose the Right Synonym for labor

work, labor, travail, toil, drudgery, grind mean activity involving effort or exertion.

work may imply activity of body, of mind, of a machine, or of a natural force.

too tired to do any work

labor applies to physical or intellectual work involving great and often strenuous exertion.

farmers demanding fair compensation for their labor

travail is bookish for labor involving pain or suffering.

years of travail were lost when the house burned

toil implies prolonged and fatiguing labor.

his lot would be years of back-breaking toil

drudgery suggests dull and irksome labor.

an editorial job with a good deal of drudgery

grind implies labor exhausting to mind or body.

the grind of the assembly line

Examples of labor in a Sentence

A day's labor should get the job done.

Getting the job done will require many hours of difficult labor.

He rested from his labors.

The cost of repairing the car includes parts and labor.

an area in which there is a shortage of cheap labor

The proposed new law is opposed by organized labor.

She went into labor this morning.

She has been in labor for several hours.

She began to have labor pains this morning.

She had a difficult labor.

Recent Examples on the Web

My decade of factory labor had started to take a heavy toll on my health. —Literary Hub, 8 June 2026

As America marks the 82nd anniversary of D-Day on Saturday, a group of women whose wartime labor helped sustain the Allied war effort gathered in New Orleans to remember a generation that is rapidly disappearing. —Jasmine Baehr, FOXNews.com, 7 June 2026

Rate-hike expectations were reinforced by the US labor-market readings on Friday as nonfarm payrolls increased 172,000 last month after upward revisions to the prior two months, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. —Tony Czuczka, Fortune, 7 June 2026

Modernizing Tri-City’s payroll and electronic medical records systems are near-term priorities, as is rebuilding its shuttered labor and delivery department and also increasing services such as oncology. —Paul Sisson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 June 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Anglo-French labur, from Latin labor; perhaps akin to Latin labare to totter, labi to slip — more at sleep

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing labor

• anti-labor
• division of labor
• forced labor
• hard labor
• labor/belabor the point
• labor camp
• labor costs
• labor force
• labor-intensive
• labor market
• labor relations
• labor the point
• labor under a delusion/misapprehension/misconception
• labor under the misconception
• labor union
• slave labor
• stoop labor

Rhymes for labor

• neighbor
• neighbour
• saber
• sabre
• tabor
• belabor
• nonlabor

Kids Definition

labor

1 of 2 noun

la·​bor ˈlā-bər 

1

: physical or mental effort especially when hard or required : toil, work

2

a

: the services performed by workers for wages

b

: those who do labor for wages

3

: the physical efforts and pain of giving birth

also : the period of such labor

4

: something that requires work : task

labor

2 of 2 verb

labored; laboring -b(ə-)riŋ 

1

: to work hard

2

: to move with great effort

the truck labored up the hill

Medical Definition

labor

1 of 2 noun

la·​bor

variants or British labour

ˈlā-bər 

: the physical activities involved in childbirth consisting essentially of a prolonged series of involuntary contractions of the uterine musculature together with both reflex and voluntary contractions of the abdominal wall

drugs that induce labor

went into labor after a fall

also : the period of time during which such labor takes place

labor

2 of 2 intransitive verb

variants or British labour

: to be in the labor of giving birth