travail

noun tra·vail \ trə-ˈvāl , ˈtra-ˌvāl \

Updated on: 14 Apr 2018

Definition of travail

1 a : work especially of a painful or laborious nature : toil

b : a physical or mental exertion or piece of work : task, effort

c : agony, torment

2 : labor, childbirth

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Examples of travail in a Sentence

They finally succeeded after many months of travail.
no greater travail than that of parents who have suffered the death of a child

Recent Examples of travail from the Web

Carter is a very likable and honest actress, here playing a genuinely luminous artist whose travails Diamond knows and understands.

— chris jones, chicagotribune.com, "'Smart People' at Writers Theatre: Can a white neurobiologist study racism? Can a black actress escape it?," 5 Apr. 2018
Tuesday was not the first time Clinton has expressed irritation at Fox’s coverage of her post-campaign travails.

— adam shaw, Fox News, "Hillary Clinton claims 'Fox News is always trying to impeach me'," 4 Apr. 2018
Despite his travails, most people assumed the president would seek reelection.

— the washington post, AL.com, "LBJ left the 1968 presidential race 50 years ago today," 31 Mar. 2018
Despite his travails, most people assumed the president would seek reelection.

— robert mitchell, Washington Post, "A ‘Pearl Harbor in politics’: LBJ’s stunning decision not to seek reelection," 31 Mar. 2018
The travails of Barnaby Joyce, the leader of Turbull’s junior coalition partner, had dominated headlines for more than a month, driving down the government’s poll numbers.

— Bloomberg.com, "Trump: Will Be Putting in a Lot More Circuit Judges," 23 Feb. 2018
But King and the authors of the Kerner Report would have recognized the ongoing concerns of poverty, the travails of American cities, and the plague of gun violence.

— rachel aviv, The New Yorker, "Honoring Martin Luther King, Jr., Fifty Years After His Death," 10 Feb. 2018
Paige’s travails, which could all too easily be a typical look at two parents fighting over their kid’s future (hilariously, the Jenningses’ other child, perpetually underwritten, is now at boarding school), carry heft thanks to Taylor’s acting.

— daniel d'addario, Time, "The Americans Becomes a Modern Russian Tragedy in Its Final Season," 28 Mar. 2018
But in the midst of that tumult and travail, some technologists see opportunities for innovation.

— adam rogers, WIRED, "This Brooklyn Architect Wants to Rewire Puerto Rico with Solar," 26 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'travail.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of travail

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from travailler to torment, labor, journey, from Vulgar Latin *trepaliare to torture, from Late Latin trepalium instrument of torture, from Latin tripalis having three stakes, from tri- + palus stake — more at pole

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 13th century

See Words from the same year

travail Synonyms

Synonym Discussion of travail

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.