labored 1 of 2

labored

2 of 2

verb

past tense of labor

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 labored
Adjective
Lots of labored stuff about riding a buggy or a cart with all sorts of people dressed in costume running around him. Bill Wyman, Vulture, 28 Feb. 2025 Callahan Molnar wrote that Beacon was admitted to an emergency pet hospital the previous day with symptoms that included stiffness, labored breathing and a fever, despite undergoing treatments such as anti-inflammatory medication and cold laser therapy. Erin Clements, Peoplemag, 5 Sep. 2024 The leads are largely stuck sniping at each other between bouts of labored philosophizing and personal backstory, never coming close to a credible mutual rapport. Dennis Harvey, Variety, 26 Feb. 2025 Image Her paintings at times look schematic and labored, and in general pale beside the sculptures. Deborah Solomon, New York Times, 13 Feb. 2025 See All Example Sentences for labored
Recent Examples of Synonyms for labored
Adjective
  • The earliest use cases have shown up where human labor is most strained and speed is a competitive edge, support desks, sales pipelines, email inboxes and even the marketing office where agentic marketplaces like Enso offer an entire team’s worth of agentic replacements.
    Alexander Puutio, Forbes.com, 18 June 2025
  • Tehran's densely populated urban centers and strained infrastructure make the city especially vulnerable to continued attacks, heightening fear and instability.
    Amir Daftari, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 June 2025
Verb
  • The Bears offense struggled under coordinator Shane Waldron, so he was fired.
    Kevin Fishbain, The Athletic, 27 Dec. 2024
  • When Barbra Streisand struggled with the replacement orchestrations during a recording session, the conductor had Cullen’s original scores on hand.
    Darryn King, Forbes, 27 Dec. 2024
Adjective
  • Eschewing a contrived set-up, Wax’s Izzy relates her story simply and directly to the audience.
    Frank Rizzo, Variety, 13 June 2025
  • That’s the setting where Diamond’s story unfolds, in a very contrived and forced manner — even by jukebox musical standards — as the therapist uses a book of the singer-songwriter’s lyrics as a launching pad to examine significant life moments.
    Jim Harrington, Mercury News, 6 June 2025
Verb
  • Those who worked with him always circled back to his genuine joy on the podium.
    Rick Kogan, Chicago Tribune, 24 Dec. 2024
  • And the front and rear hydraulic disc brakes with 180mm rotors worked extremely well, even going downhill, without any squealing whatsoever.
    Scott Kramer, Forbes, 24 Dec. 2024
Adjective
  • Luke Williams, the automatic runner, took off for third, before briefly turning back to second, unsure of where to go.
    Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News, 18 June 2025
  • Earlier this month, men’s and women’s basketball added a coaches challenge and removed automatic replays for out-of-bounds calls in the final two minutes for the sake of game flow.
    Chris Vannini, New York Times, 18 June 2025
Adjective
  • If an investigation finds that products are made with forced labor, the company is given time to address the problem before its products are banned from European markets.
    Troy Aidan Sambajon, Christian Science Monitor, 10 June 2025
  • Absent a forced crisis, Chicago may follow the path of many other once-great cities, cutting services and raising taxes each year and slowly bleeding residents and jobs.
    Forrest Claypool, Chicago Tribune, 2 June 2025
Adjective
  • The story was too pat, too earnest, too self-flattering.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 16 June 2025
  • Twain has long been accused of giving Huck Finn an overly pat, comic ending.
    Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 9 May 2025
Adjective
  • Modern vehicles aren’t just mechanical marvels anymore—they’re software platforms on wheels.
    John Ellis, Forbes.com, 16 June 2025
  • Speciale is a twin-turbo V-6 engine that, combined with an electric motor, makes 867 mechanical horsepower.
    Erik Shilling, Robb Report, 16 June 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Labored.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/labored. Accessed 30 Jun. 2025.

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