toil

1 of 3

noun (1)

ˈtȯi(-ə)l How to pronounce toil (audio)
Synonyms of toilnext
1
: long strenuous fatiguing labor
2
archaic
a
: struggle, battle
b
: laborious effort
toilful
ˈtȯi(-ə)l-fəl How to pronounce toil (audio)
adjective
toilfully
ˈtȯi(-ə)l-fə-lē How to pronounce toil (audio)
adverb

toil

2 of 3

verb

toiled; toiling; toils

intransitive verb

1
: to work hard and long
2
: to proceed with laborious effort : plod

transitive verb

1
archaic : overwork
2
archaic : to get or accomplish with great effort
toiler
ˈtȯi-lər How to pronounce toil (audio)
noun

toil

3 of 3

noun (2)

1
: a net to trap game
2
: something by which one is held fast or inextricably involved : snare, trap
—usually used in plural
caught in the toils of the law

Synonyms

Noun (1)

Verb

Noun (2)

See all Synonyms & Antonyms in Thesaurus 
Choose the Right Synonym for toil

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

Examples of toil in a Sentence

Noun (1) after years of toil in a sweatshop, Kim was finally able to start her own dressmaking business Verb workers toiling in the fields They were toiling up a steep hill. Noun (2) a married woman hopelessly caught in the toils of an extramarital affair
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
But the years of toil and sacrifice have given him something the rest of them don’t have. —Adam Kilgore, Washington Post, 21 June 2024 Capricorn Rising There are seasons for toil, and seasons for pleasure. —Steph Koyfman, Condé Nast Traveler, 26 Apr. 2024
Verb
The arch and accompanying fountain, near the Diaz-Compean Student Union, honors legendary labor leader Cesar E. Chavez and includes images of Dolores Huerta, Mahatma Gandhi and farmworkers toiling in the fields. —Sal Pizarro, The Mercury News, 29 June 2024 Though neuroscientists have toiled for decades to tap directly into human thoughts, recent advances have the field buzzing with anticipation—and the involvement of one polarizing billionaire has drawn a new level of attention. —Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 7 June 2024 See all Example Sentences for toil 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'toil.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle English toile, from Anglo-French toyl, from toiller

Verb

Middle English, to argue, struggle, from Anglo-French toiller to make dirty, fight, wrangle, from Latin tudiculare to crush, grind, from tudicula machine for crushing olives, diminutive of tudes hammer; akin to Latin tundere to beat — more at contusion

Noun (2)

Middle French toile cloth, net, from Old French teile, Latin tela cloth on a loom — more at subtle

First Known Use

Noun (1)

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Verb

15th century, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1

Noun (2)

circa 1529, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of toil was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near toil

toi

toil

toile

See More Nearby Entries 

Cite this Entry

“Toil.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/toil. Accessed 7 Jul. 2024.

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Kids Definition

toil

1 of 2 noun
ˈtȯi(ə)l How to pronounce toil (audio)
: long hard labor

toil

2 of 2 verb
1
: to work hard and long
2
: to go on with effort
toiling up a steep hill
toiler noun
Etymology

Noun

Middle English toile "battle, argument," derived from early French toyl, "battle, disturbance, confusion," from toiller (verb) "make dirty, fight, wrangle," from Latin tudiculare "crush, grind," from tudicula "machine with hammers for beating olives," from tudes "hammer"

Word Origin
Even though we have machines to do much of our hard work today, much long, hard toil must still be done by hand. Our Modern English word toil, however, comes from a Latin word for a laborsaving machine. The ancient Romans built a machine for crushing olives to produce olive oil. This machine was called a tudicula. This Latin word was formed from the word tudes, meaning "hammer," because the machine had little hammers to crush the olives. From this came the Latin verb tudiculare, meaning "to crush or grind." Early French used this Latin verb as the basis for its verb, spelled toiller, which meant "to make dirty, fight, wrangle." From this came the noun toyl, meaning "battle, disturbance, confusion." This early French noun in time was taken into Middle English as toile, meaning "argument, battle." The earliest sense of our Modern English toil was "a long, hard struggle in battle." It is natural enough that in time this came to be used to refer to any long hard effort.

More from Merriam-Webster on toil

Nglish: Translation of toil for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of toil for Arabic Speakers

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