drudgery

Synonym Chooser

How does the noun drudgery contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of drudgery are grind, labor, toil, travail, and work. While all these words mean "activity involving effort or exertion," drudgery suggests dull and irksome labor.

an editorial job with a good deal of drudgery

When might grind be a better fit than drudgery?

The synonyms grind and drudgery are sometimes interchangeable, but grind implies labor exhausting to mind or body.

the grind of the assembly line

When is it sensible to use labor instead of drudgery?

While the synonyms labor and drudgery are close in meaning, labor applies to physical or intellectual work involving great and often strenuous exertion.

farmers demanding fair compensation for their labor

Where would toil be a reasonable alternative to drudgery?

Although the words toil and drudgery have much in common, toil implies prolonged and fatiguing labor.

his lot would be years of back-breaking toil

In what contexts can travail take the place of drudgery?

The words travail and drudgery can be used in similar contexts, but travail is bookish for labor involving pain or suffering.

years of travail were lost when the house burned

When would work be a good substitute for drudgery?

In some situations, the words work and drudgery are roughly equivalent. However, work may imply activity of body, of mind, of a machine, or of a natural force.

too tired to do any work

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of drudgery The luscious, almost red-wine color is a chic addition to the occasional drudgeries of winter and surely to elevate even the most relaxed and cozy outfits. Emma Sandler, Forbes, 2 Mar. 2025 Fides’s tech spares us humans the drudgery of tracking deadlines, sourcing regulatory data, and creating legal documents. Moya Johnson, Forbes.com, 15 Apr. 2025 Excel, a program that does complex math on a human’s behalf, is often associated, rightly, with corporate drudgery. Natalie Proulx, New York Times, 12 Feb. 2025 The temperature for the first pitch was 66 degrees, a far cry from the blustery cold that added to the drudgery of an 18-3 loss in the March 31 opener. Joe Davidson, Sacbee.com, 8 Apr. 2025 See All Example Sentences for drudgery
Recent Examples of Synonyms for drudgery
Noun
  • What if these materials quietly compromise their health, pollute the planet, and support unethical labor practices?
    Nia Bowers, USA Today, 10 May 2025
  • Rapp, 30, built a career as a labor and employment attorney in New York City.
    Jordan Greene, People.com, 9 May 2025
Noun
  • And the level of effort players have shown has been astonishing.
    Louisa Thomas, New Yorker, 11 May 2025
  • The project has been anchored by the relentless efforts of Wood and Orr, experts in rubbing elbows and working a crowd and the phones.
    Joe Davidson, Sacbee.com, 11 May 2025
Noun
  • But this season has been one of toil as well as triumph, of inconsistency and dramatic defeats such as Saturday’s 4-1 loss at Aston Villa, as well as long winning runs and historic results.
    Chris Waugh, New York Times, 22 Apr. 2025
  • This integration can feel challenging; for those conditioned by the violence of capitalistic toil, disrupting the autopilot of perpetual labor with rest can ironically be a very active practice.
    Akilah Sailers, Essence, 5 Apr. 2025
Noun
  • The music goes way back and carries religious and racial context, especially roots in slavery.
    Matt Donnelly, Variety, 19 May 2025
  • In Texas, slavery didn’t end until June 19, 1865, when Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston and issued General Order No. 3, informing the people of Texas that all who’d been enslaved were free—the event commemorated as Juneteenth.
    Jacoba Urist, Smithsonian Magazine, 15 May 2025
Noun
  • If the high costs of repair and maintenance scare you and the thought of DIY-ing anything on your car gives you anxious sweats, fear not.
    Charles Singh, USA Today, 7 May 2025
  • Mexican soldiers wearing gas masks and white Hazmat suits smash through the remaining equipment in sweltering 96-degree Fahrenheit heat, stopping occasionally to mop up sweat pouring from their faces.
    Isobel Yeung, CNN Money, 2 May 2025
Noun
  • The corporate laborers of the industrial age were drudges, and might have needed the scaffolding of managerial hierarchies to make widgets in bulk.
    Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, 19 Feb. 2025
  • In other words, exactly the type of drudge work that corporates have outsourced for decades to offshore teams from the likes of Accenture, Cognizant and Infosys.
    Iain Martin, Forbes, 4 Feb. 2025
Noun
  • Mind fatigue can lead to shortcuts such as not thoroughly proofing an important email or opting out of decision-making with your team.
    Bryan Robinson, Forbes.com, 17 May 2025
  • But JPMorgan believes signs of fatigue among retail investors means further gains may be hard to come by.
    Lisa Kailai Han, CNBC, 15 May 2025
Noun
  • Many of the artists who recently enjoyed major breakthroughs triumphed in their mid-twenties after long grinds.
    Elias Leight, Billboard, 16 May 2025
  • To highlight just how many players are needed to survive the grind.
    Cody Stavenhagen, New York Times, 15 May 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Drudgery.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/drudgery. Accessed 23 May. 2025.

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