1
as in job
a dull, unpleasant, or difficult piece of work
one of the labors of Hercules in classical mythology was to clean out the stables of King Augeas
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in effort
the active use of energy in producing a result
a superhuman amount of labor must have gone into designing and building the pyramids of Egypt
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in toil
very hard or unpleasant work
a political dissident forced to do six months of hard labor in the salt mines as punishment
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4
as in childbirth
the act or process of giving birth to children
the mother's labor lasted for six hours
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5
as in production
something produced by physical or intellectual effort
a small, personal film that was clearly a labor of love for the director and actors
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as in to struggle
to devote serious and sustained effort
the young lawyer labored most of the weekend over the difficult legal brief
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Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of labor
Scott Soshnick, Sportico.com, 4 Nov. 2025
The labor costs alone for the department’s current class of 23 understudies are roughly $624,000 a year.
—David Ferrara, Cincinnati Enquirer, 3 Nov. 2025
Jeff Faraudo, Mercury News, 18 Oct. 2025
At 41 weeks, she was induced and labored for hours before doctors determined an emergency C-section was necessary.
—Jordan Greene, PEOPLE, 14 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for labor
Noun
Now baseball turns its attention to the looming labor fight.
—Scott Soshnick, Sportico.com, 4 Nov. 2025
The labor costs alone for the department’s current class of 23 understudies are roughly $624,000 a year.
—David Ferrara, Cincinnati Enquirer, 3 Nov. 2025
Verb
The Bears labored much of the rest of the evening.
—Jeff Faraudo, Mercury News, 18 Oct. 2025
At 41 weeks, she was induced and labored for hours before doctors determined an emergency C-section was necessary.
—Jordan Greene, PEOPLE, 14 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for labor
Recent Examples of Synonyms for labor
Noun
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Duffy had been angling to hold on to the NASA job, according to media reports.—
Mike Wall,
Space.com,
5 Nov. 2025
-
Ausberry was promoted to the interim job in Woodward’s place, and the board gave him the authority to lead the coaching hire.—
Chris Vannini,
New York Times,
5 Nov. 2025
Noun
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That merely meant coach Brian Dutcher didn’t have to delicately parcel out playing time while massaging egos on his Mariana Trench-deep roster, and the bench shortened by circumstance delivered a 77-45 win powered by a pair of true freshmen and a typically frenetic defensive effort.—
Mark Zeigler,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
5 Nov. 2025
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As companies pour trillions into transformation efforts, few see lasting results.—
Jana Werner,
Harvard Business Review,
5 Nov. 2025
Noun
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How Tielemans overcame early toils is often used as a source of encouragement by new additions who seem peripheral at first.—
Jacob Tanswell,
New York Times,
23 Oct. 2025
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But to borrow Manidis’s framework, the drive to create such a tool conflates useless toil with meaningful labor.—
Charlie Warzel,
The Atlantic,
20 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Kanto practitioners believe that women cannot participate because, according to Japan's Shinto religion, women's blood from menstruation and childbirth is considered impure for the purpose of religious rituals.—
Anthony Kuhn,
NPR,
3 Nov. 2025
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Brutal childbirth has increasingly become TV shorthand for the burden of being a woman.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
31 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
The reality is that housing production is a very complex issue.—
Kim Velsey,
Curbed,
5 Nov. 2025
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With this lack of running back production, a heavy load has fallen on the shoulders of quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who ranks third on the Chiefs with 285 rushing yards.—
Matt Audilet,
MSNBC Newsweek,
5 Nov. 2025
Verb
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And problems continue despite the flight cancellations designed to relieve stress on controllers struggling to deal with the shutdown.—
Emma Tucker,
CNN Money,
8 Nov. 2025
-
Entry-level workers experiment freely and the C-suite sees strategic value, yet middle managers often struggle to bridge the gap.—
Feon Ang,
Fortune,
7 Nov. 2025
Noun
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For the patents on some of Novo Nordisk’s hero products in certain regions to be running out is an inevitable headache—companies can only hold them for so long before competitors are able to launch their own products.—
Eleanor Pringle,
Fortune,
6 Nov. 2025
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Symptoms may include diarrhea, cramps, nausea, headaches or other ailments.—
Anna Skinner,
MSNBC Newsweek,
5 Nov. 2025
Noun
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But the organization needs resources to sustain its essential work and to achieve its laudable goal of ending elder hunger in the city in the next 15 years.—
Robb Report Studio,
Robb Report,
4 Nov. 2025
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Many people took the day off from work and brought their children to take part in the festivities.—
Steve Futterman,
NPR,
4 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Labor.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/labor. Accessed 8 Nov. 2025.
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