travail

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

|Updated on: 22 Jun 2018

Tip: Synonym Guide

Examples: travail in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

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

See travail defined for English-language learners

See travail defined for kids

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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

The company never quit China entirely, despite its travails.

— raymond zhong, New York Times, "Google, Rebuilding Its Presence in China, Invests in Retailer JD.com," 18 June 2018
Visconti treats her rejection of Ludwig’s early affections as a key to his travails.

— joseph horowitz, WSJ, "A Momentous Wagnerian Film," 15 June 2018
Now, aside from his Champions League travails - which of course won't be a factor in 2018/19 for the Blues - that appears a fairly substantial CV.

— SI.com, "Why Laurent Blanc is the Worst Possible Managerial Choice for Chelsea in 2018," 8 June 2018
His Temple brothers have stayed close, many in frequent contact through his travails, and words from Chaney keep resurfacing.

— mike jensen, Philly.com, "Former Temple big man Ron Rollerson, having lost a leg, finds a new sport," 24 May 2018
The Chinese reaction underscored the importance that Beijing has placed on ZTE’s survival, and the company’s travails have encapsulated the worries among Chinese leaders that their country depends too much on US technology.

— keith bradsher, BostonGlobe.com, "China welcomes Trump’s help on ZTE as trade talks loom," 14 May 2018
Other analysts and investors -- pointing to the turmoil at the bank during his tenure -- have said the chairman also bears responsibility for the bank’s travails.

— Bloomberg.com, "Deutsche Bank Plans Board Shifts as Chiefs’ Future Is Questioned," 3 Apr. 2018
Six female comedians and storytellers share the stage at the Virgil in East Hollywood for a night of opening up about the trials, travails, and hilarity of attempting to find love and companionship in the Tinder age.

— brittany martin, Los Angeles Magazine, "The Best Things to Do in L.A. This Week," 4 June 2018
At times, this final season became too distracted by the romantic travails of its breakout character, Sue Heck (Eden Sher), the eternally earnest, sweetly dorky middle child of the series’ central Heck family.

— todd vanderwerff, Vox, "The Middle wraps its run as TV’s most perpetually underrated comedy," 27 May 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.

Did You Know?

Etymologists are pretty certain that travail comes from trepalium, the Late Latin name of an instrument of torture. We don't know exactly what a trepalium looked like, but the word's history gives us an idea. Trepalium is derived from the Latin tripalis, which means "having three stakes" (from tri-, meaning "three," and palus, meaning "stake"). From trepalium sprang the Anglo-French verb travailler, which originally meant "to torment" but eventually acquired the milder senses "to trouble" and "to journey." The Anglo-French noun travail was borrowed into English in the 13th century, followed about a century later by travel, another descendant of travailler.

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

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

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.