as in laboring
to devote serious and sustained effort
toiled for many years on the mammoth outdoor sculpture
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Recent Examples of toiling
These days, many would-be retirees are punching clocks in warehouses, toiling as home health aides, or serving customers in retail stores.
—
Ann Larson, Time, 11 June 2026
The 60-year-old owner of All-Pro Lawnmower Sales, Service & Recycling at 555 Santa Fe Drive in Denver spends his days toiling on small engines.
—Matthew Geiger, Denver Post, 29 May 2026
These figures are not the proprietary work of a data scientist toiling away late into the night.
—Evan Drellich, New York Times, 27 May 2026
Though work continues to be handled outside the Trop, a workload with increasing demands with the summer months upon us, the Rays’ grounds crew takes care of a field inside without having to change clothes multiple times per day while toiling in unrelenting heat and humidity.
—Tom Layberger, Forbes.com, 26 May 2026
Torn between toiling away at farmwork, his corrective swimming lessons, and learning music from a local organist — the elderly Michel (Alexandre Astier, Clichy’s former directing partner), who shows him more kindness than most — Christophe’s world gradually widens.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 19 May 2026
When your partner is a creative person toiling away as an artist, that conversation is typically a tangled knot of hearts and minds and money and desires and needs and space and time.
—Literary Hub, 18 May 2026
Wilson’s a working musician’s musician, having spent much of his career toiling at full-time jobs while playing the saxophone and writing music on the side.
—Charles Moss, SPIN, 18 May 2026
This is, of course, nothing new to the series, and the players that don’t want to spend ages toiling away for a single car, let alone a single part, looking to simply hop on their couch and straight into a GR GT will appreciate this.
—Adam Ismail, The Drive, 14 May 2026
Ann Larson, Time, 11 June 2026
The 60-year-old owner of All-Pro Lawnmower Sales, Service & Recycling at 555 Santa Fe Drive in Denver spends his days toiling on small engines.
—Matthew Geiger, Denver Post, 29 May 2026
These figures are not the proprietary work of a data scientist toiling away late into the night.
—Evan Drellich, New York Times, 27 May 2026
Though work continues to be handled outside the Trop, a workload with increasing demands with the summer months upon us, the Rays’ grounds crew takes care of a field inside without having to change clothes multiple times per day while toiling in unrelenting heat and humidity.
—Tom Layberger, Forbes.com, 26 May 2026
Torn between toiling away at farmwork, his corrective swimming lessons, and learning music from a local organist — the elderly Michel (Alexandre Astier, Clichy’s former directing partner), who shows him more kindness than most — Christophe’s world gradually widens.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 19 May 2026
When your partner is a creative person toiling away as an artist, that conversation is typically a tangled knot of hearts and minds and money and desires and needs and space and time.
—Literary Hub, 18 May 2026
Wilson’s a working musician’s musician, having spent much of his career toiling at full-time jobs while playing the saxophone and writing music on the side.
—Charles Moss, SPIN, 18 May 2026
This is, of course, nothing new to the series, and the players that don’t want to spend ages toiling away for a single car, let alone a single part, looking to simply hop on their couch and straight into a GR GT will appreciate this.
—Adam Ismail, The Drive, 14 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for toiling
Verb
-
The woodcut birth figures contained in these books were not images drawn from observation—pregnant cadavers for anatomical drawing were hard to come by—but were instead abstracted diagrams of the chaotic diversity of laboring bodies.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
16 June 2026
-
Another laboring woman with the same image on her phone.—
Karli Swenson,
The Conversation,
11 June 2026
Verb
-
The officials described Pakistan’s monthslong effort leading the negotiations, struggling to keep both sides from walking out of the room and a total collapse of the negotiations on multiple occasions.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
14 June 2026
-
The third spot, initially expected to go to Martín Zubimendi, now looks more likely to be Fabián Ruiz for the Cape Verde opener, with De la Fuente pragmatic about rotating in the early group games and with Zubimendi struggling for form later on in the club season.—
Sam Leveridge,
Forbes.com,
14 June 2026
Verb
-
Other roles soon came, including a recurring character on Marlo Thomas’ That Girl as the title character’s always striving agent Harvey Peck.—
Greg Evans,
Deadline,
12 June 2026
-
But now, a new crew is striving to rework some of that Barneys magic.—
David Moin,
Footwear News,
11 June 2026
Verb
-
The seven core collaborators – Kogonada, producer Chung An, producer Christopher Radcliff, producer-cinematographer Benjamin Loeb, and actor-producers Richardson, Mao and Jin Ha – collectively owned the project, splitting responsibilities and working without outside financing.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
15 June 2026
-
Rowland has been taking one of these biologics—Ebglyss—and working with the makers of the medication—Lilly—to increase the awareness of eczema and available treatments.—
Bruce Y. Lee,
Forbes.com,
14 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Toiling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/toiling. Accessed 20 Jun. 2026.
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