1
as in pains
a state of great suffering of body or mind
no greater travail than that of parents who have suffered the death of a child
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in efforts
very hard or unpleasant work
these villagers now have decent housing, so our travail has not been in vain
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in childbirths
the act or process of giving birth to children
a midwife assisted her throughout her long travail
Synonyms & Similar Words
as in struggles
to devote serious and sustained effort
Labor Day is the day on which we recognize those men and women who daily travail with little appreciation or compensation
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of travails
Mithil Aggarwal,
NBC news,
22 June 2026
Gaudette used a series of AI tools — and not a single actor, producer or crew member — to tell his tender story of a man who, for all his travails, hardly wallows in his station.
—
Steven Zeitchik,
HollywoodReporter,
17 June 2026
Its current travails are likely to be a model for the nation too.
—
David A. Graham,
The Atlantic,
11 June 2026
The travails of baristas, ride-share drivers or suburban supermarket employees don’t gather my sympathies as much as, say, the lot of the workers at the BP refinery in Whiting, Indiana, or the Ford plant on Torrence Avenue in Chicago.
—
John Vukmirovich,
Chicago Tribune,
4 June 2026
But through all the travails of a second consecutive 10th-place finish, developmental strides were made, tangible growth spurts for what could follow.
—
Ira Winderman,
Sun Sentinel,
13 May 2026
Article continues below ‘The Godfather’ (1972) Watch On Director Francis Ford Coppola’s gangster epic, an adaptation of Mario Puzo’s best-selling 1969 novel, offers a sweeping look at the travails of the Corleone mafia family.
—
David Faris,
TheWeek,
29 Apr. 2026
Infiniti, Nissan’s luxury division, has been stuck in a malaise for years now in large part tied to the travails of its corporate parent, but, lately, there have been some signs of life, including, possibly, a new manual performance sedan.
—
Erik Shilling,
Robb Report,
11 Mar. 2026
Consider the recent travails of bride-to-be Lauren Johnson.
—
Editorial Board,
Washington Post,
13 Feb. 2026
Noun
Despite their travails in Tehran, the atmosphere in the cafe felt lax, with many women not heeding the country’s law requiring women to cover their heads and the shape of their bodies.
—
Mithil Aggarwal,
NBC news,
22 June 2026
Gaudette used a series of AI tools — and not a single actor, producer or crew member — to tell his tender story of a man who, for all his travails, hardly wallows in his station.
—
Steven Zeitchik,
HollywoodReporter,
17 June 2026
Its current travails are likely to be a model for the nation too.
—
David A. Graham,
The Atlantic,
11 June 2026
The travails of baristas, ride-share drivers or suburban supermarket employees don’t gather my sympathies as much as, say, the lot of the workers at the BP refinery in Whiting, Indiana, or the Ford plant on Torrence Avenue in Chicago.
—
John Vukmirovich,
Chicago Tribune,
4 June 2026
But through all the travails of a second consecutive 10th-place finish, developmental strides were made, tangible growth spurts for what could follow.
—
Ira Winderman,
Sun Sentinel,
13 May 2026
Article continues below ‘The Godfather’ (1972) Watch On Director Francis Ford Coppola’s gangster epic, an adaptation of Mario Puzo’s best-selling 1969 novel, offers a sweeping look at the travails of the Corleone mafia family.
—
David Faris,
TheWeek,
29 Apr. 2026
Infiniti, Nissan’s luxury division, has been stuck in a malaise for years now in large part tied to the travails of its corporate parent, but, lately, there have been some signs of life, including, possibly, a new manual performance sedan.
—
Erik Shilling,
Robb Report,
11 Mar. 2026
Consider the recent travails of bride-to-be Lauren Johnson.
—
Editorial Board,
Washington Post,
13 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for travails
Noun
-
The 74-year-old Weinstein, meanwhile, reported chest pains during jury deliberations in the most recent trial, spurring another early end to court.
-
The colors, pains, pleasures, smells, tastes and sounds, the what-it’s-like of being conscious, are not private inner bits and blobs that philosophers call qualia, floating in a theatre of the mind.
Noun
-
The girl was pronounced dead at UC Irvine Medical Center, despite the efforts of first responders who arrived soon after the blast, the news release said.
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The university will still have the ability to use the park for recreational activities and, like the city, will also be able to use it as a debris site for post-hurricane recovery efforts.
Noun
-
Many women may not be aware at all that private details of their childbirths were shared with law enforcement.
-
In some Michigan counties, Medicaid covers more than half of all childbirths.
Verb
-
During contests, their stomachs stretch, heart rates rise, and digestion struggles to keep up, causing intense physical stress.
-
Her 12-year-old son, Whitman, has autism and a neurological disorder called apraxia, in which the brain struggles to tell muscles how to move to form words or perform other motor skills.
Noun
-
The reticence of Cartland’s heroes belies agonies of loneliness.
-
Although the novel’s center does not quite hold, O’Farrell’s emotional intelligence — the heart and heat of her characters — braces this sometimes unwieldy chronicle of a nation that has been subject to cumbrous historic agonies.
Noun
-
Their heroic labors produced the versions that, copied and recopied on papyrus and later on parchment, arrived at last at a printing press in Florence.
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Justine Siegemund, a German midwife who learned her practice by studying books, was often asked to consult on complex labors.
Noun
-
And its humanoid robot makers accounted for the vast majority of the global android deliveries last year, far outpacing American competitors like Tesla and FigureAI.
-
These strategies include quicker processing turnarounds for contracts with behavioral health organizations and job recruitment, preventative infrastructure maintenance and faster deliveries of social services.
Verb
-
Alan Stanton said the conservative county strives not to overregulate in general.
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New legislation introduced by a bipartisan group of senators strives to add new aircraft to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Hurricane Hunter fleet and codify the agency’s role in meteorological research.
Cite this Entry
“Travails.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/travails. Accessed 3 Jul. 2026.
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