View synonyms for toil

toil

[ toil ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

hard and continuous work; exhausting labor or effort.
Synonyms: travail, exertion, pains
Antonyms: sloth, indolence
a laborious task.
Archaic. battle; strife; struggle.

verb (used without object)

to engage in hard and continuous work; labor arduously:
to toil in the fields.
Synonyms: moil, strive
to move or travel with difficulty, weariness, or pain.

verb (used with object)

to accomplish or produce by toil.

toil

[ toil ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

Usually toils.
1. a net or series of nets in which game known to be in the area is trapped or into which game outside of the area is driven.
2. trap; snare:
  to be caught in the toils of a gigantic criminal conspiracy.
Archaic. any snare or trap for wild beasts.

toil

/ tɔɪl /

noun

hard or exhausting work
an obsolete word for strife

verb

intr to labour
intr to progress with slow painful movements
to toil up a hill
archaic.
tr to achieve by toil

toil

/ tɔɪl /

noun

often plural a net or snare
the toils of fortune had ensnared him
archaic.
a trap for wild beasts

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Derived Forms

ˈtoiler, noun

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Other Words From

toiler noun
un·toiling adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of toil¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English noun toil(e) “violent conflict, battle,” from Anglo-French toil(e), toyl “contention,” from Old French toeil, tooil “confusion, contention, battle,” ultimately from Latin tudiculāre “to stir up, beat,” verbal derivative of tudicula “machine for crushing olives,” equivalent to tudi- (stem of tundere “to strike, beat”) + -cula -cule ²

Origin of toil²

Fifst recorded in 1520–30; from French toile, from Latin tēla “web”

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Word History and Origins

Origin of toil¹

C13: from Anglo-French toiler to struggle, from Old French toeillier to confuse, from Latin tudiculāre to stir, from tudicula machine for bruising olives, from tudes a hammer, from tundere to beat

Origin of toil²

C16: from Old French toile, from Latin tēla loom

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Example Sentences

Even the mediocre stuff can produce a great internal struggle, where artists toil over how to make an average piece of work better.

From Salon

Should farming interests push to protect and retain the undocumented workers who have toiled in the country’s fields for years and who, in many cases, have families and community roots?

From Los Angeles Times

One descendant of our last common ancestor went on to engulf a photosynthetic bacterium, which would then toil away harnessing the power of the sun to fuel this progenitor of all plants.

From Salon

Archaeologists normally operate on their own, toiling at some remote dig or surveying land in the wilderness.

From Los Angeles Times

During that time Joshua Zirkzee has also managed just one goal in 16 games for a United side that has toiled in the final third of the pitch.

From BBC

Related Words

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When To Use

What are other ways to say toil?

The noun toil refers to hard and continuous work. How is toil different from drudgery, labor, and work? Find out on Thesaurus.com.

tohunga toile

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