Merriam-Webster Logo
SINCE 1828
Menu
dictionary thesaurus

Thesaurus

labor

noun

Synonyms and Antonyms of labor

1 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 of labor

bear, beast, chore, headache, job, killer
Words Related to labor

drudgery, grind, heavy lifting, lucubration

effort, strain, sweat

burden, load, weight

bother, nuisance, trouble
Near Antonyms of labor

breeze, child's play, cinch, duck soup, kid stuff, setup, snap
2 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
Synonyms of labor

effort, elbow grease, exertion, expenditure, pains, sweat, trouble, while, work
Words Related to labor

drudgery, grind, slog, strain, toil, travail

dint, energy

force, might, muscle, power, puissance

attempt, endeavor, essay, fling, go, pass, shot, stab, trial, try, whack
Near Antonyms of labor

adroitness, ease, facility, fluency, smoothness

dormancy, idleness, inaction, inactivity, indolence, inertia, languor, laziness, quiescence
3 very hard or unpleasant work
  • a political dissident forced to do six months of hard labor in the salt mines as punishment
Synonyms of labor

donkeywork, drudge, drudgery, fatigue, grind, moil, slavery, sweat, toil, travail
Words Related to labor

spadework

effort, exertion, pains, struggle, trouble

chore, duty, job, obligation, responsibility

routine, tedium, treadmill
Near Antonyms of labor

decompression, ease, leisure, relaxation, repose, rest

amusement, dalliance, diversion, entertainment, recreation, sport

dormancy, idleness, inactivity, inertia, inertness

dallying, goldbricking, loafing, lolling, lounging
Antonyms of labor

fun, play
4 the act or process of giving birth to children
  • the mother's labor lasted for six hours
Synonyms of labor

accouchement, childbearing, childbirth, delivery, parturition, travail
Words Related to labor

birth pang, contraction, pains

pregnancy

abortion, miscarriage

cesarean section (or caesarean section), natural childbirth

childbed, confinement, lying-in
5 something produced by physical or intellectual effort
  • a small, personal film that was clearly a labor of love for the director and actors
Synonyms of labor

affair, fruit, handiwork, output, produce, product, production, thing, work, yield
Words Related to labor

article, commodity, entry, object

goods, line, merchandise, wares

handcraft, handicraft

aftereffect, aftermath, conclusion, consequence, corollary, development, effect, issue, outcome, result, resultant, sequel, sequence, upshot

by-product, derivative, offshoot, offspring, outgrowth, residual, side effect (also side reaction), spin-off

Synonym Discussion of labor

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.
    • too tired to do any work
labor applies to physical or intellectual work involving great and often strenuous exertion.
    • farmers demanding fair compensation for their labor
travail is bookish for labor involving pain or suffering.
    • years of travail were lost when the house burned
toil implies prolonged and fatiguing labor.
    • his lot would be years of back-breaking toil
drudgery suggests dull and irksome labor.
    • an editorial job with a good deal of drudgery
grind implies labor exhausting to mind or body.
    • the grind of the assembly line

labor

verb

Synonyms and Antonyms of labor

to devote serious and sustained effort
  • the young lawyer labored most of the weekend over the difficult legal brief
Synonyms of labor

bang away, beaver (away), dig (away), drudge, endeavor, fag, grub, hump, hustle, moil, peg (away), plod, plow, plug, slave, slog, strain, strive, struggle, sweat, toil, travail, tug, work
Words Related to labor

apply (oneself), buckle (down), dig in, hammer (away), knuckle down, pitch in

attack, drive

essay, try

exercise, exert, overexert, overwork

eke out, grind (out), put out, scrabble, scratch

trudge, wade
Phrases Synonymous with labor

sweat blood
Near Antonyms of labor

break, ease (up), let up, slacken

bum, chill, dally, dillydally, footle, goldbrick, goof (off), hack (around), hang (around or out), idle, laze, loaf, lounge, shirk, slack (off), veg out

bask, loll, relax, repose, rest, unwind

dabble, doodle, fool around, fribble, goof (around), hang, hang about [British], mess around, monkey (around), play, potter (around), putter (around), trifle

Learn More about labor

  1. See words that rhyme with labor Dictionary: Definition of labor Medical Dictionary: Definition of labor Spanish Central: Translation of labor Nglish: Translation of labor for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of labor for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about labor

Seen and Heard

What made you want to look up labor? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).

show comments hide comments
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

WORD OF THE DAY

Yooper

Listen to the pronounciation of Yooper

one from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Get Word of the Day daily email!

TRENDING NOW

  1. stymie Scottish court rules prorogation illegal

  2. what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander Johnson's comments spark searches

  3. prorogue Johnson asks to suspend Parliament

SEE ALL
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Words at Play
Ask the Editors
Word Games