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
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 Kevin Drum 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.
labored; laboring
ˈlā-b(ə-)riŋ 
; labors
; labors
1
: to exert one's powers of body or mind especially with painful or strenuous effort : work
2
: to move with great effort
the truck labored up the hill
3
: to suffer from some disadvantage or distress
labor under a delusion
4
: to be in the labor of giving birth
5
of a ship
: to pitch or roll heavily
1
: to treat or work out in often laborious detail
labor the obvious
3
: to cause to labor
4
archaic
a
: to spend labor on or produce by labor
b
: to strive to effect or achieve
1
: of or relating to labor
2
Labor
: of, relating to, or constituting a political party held to represent the interests of workers or made up largely of organized labor groups
Examples of labor in a Sentence
Noun
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.
Verb
Workers labored in the vineyard.
He labored for several years as a miner.
She has labored in vain to convince them to accept her proposal.
We should honor those who labored so long to make the truth known.
The truck labored up the hill.
I have been laboring through this book for months.
She has a tendency to labor the obvious.
Recent Examples on the Web
Cody Godwin, USA Today, 27 Apr. 2025
The day continues with tending the land, caring for the animals, milking the sheep and goats and preparing the food and goods from our labor.
—Natalie Oganesyan, Deadline, 26 Apr. 2025
Brenna Ehrlich, Rolling Stone, 25 Apr. 2025
Sánchez had labored through two innings of an eventual 5-1 Phillies loss to the New York Mets.
—Matt Gelb, New York Times, 23 Apr. 2025
Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 27 Mar. 2025
The remarks came a day after ABC News reported concern among labor unions about the Arizona senator as a potential running mate for Vice President Kamala Harris due to his unwillingness to back the pro-labor legislation.
—Max Zahn, ABC News, 24 July 2024
See All Example Sentences for labor
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
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Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
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Noun
Trying to manage them can feel like a daily battle, and that doesn't take into account the manual labor that goes into pulling them by hand.
—Cody Godwin, USA Today, 27 Apr. 2025
The day continues with tending the land, caring for the animals, milking the sheep and goats and preparing the food and goods from our labor.
—Natalie Oganesyan, Deadline, 26 Apr. 2025
Verb
When Michele Romano went missing last August, her family and their close friend, podcaster Lauren Lee Malloy, labored over flyers bearing her image: a woman with a gentle smile and a spill of braids, wrapped in a cozy, pale rainbow cardigan.
—Brenna Ehrlich, Rolling Stone, 25 Apr. 2025
Sánchez had labored through two innings of an eventual 5-1 Phillies loss to the New York Mets.
—Matt Gelb, New York Times, 23 Apr. 2025
Adjective
Though Studio Ghibli itself has had its share of labor issues in the present day, the studio was built on progressive, pro-labor politics.
—Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 27 Mar. 2025
The remarks came a day after ABC News reported concern among labor unions about the Arizona senator as a potential running mate for Vice President Kamala Harris due to his unwillingness to back the pro-labor legislation.
—Max Zahn, ABC News, 24 July 2024
See All Example Sentences for labor
Cite this Entry
“Labor.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/labor. Accessed 4 May. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
Medical Definition
labor
1 of 2 noun
la·bor
variants
or British labour
: 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
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