How to Use travail in a Sentence

travail

noun
Definition of travailnext
Synonyms for travailnext
  • But that wouldn’t explain the travails of Germany‘s Olaf Scholz.
    — David Lauter, Los Angeles Times, 15 Dec. 2023
  • Buffalo pulled out a 66-63 win in the game, but that was only the start of the Eagles’ travails.
    — Jeff Kirik, Detroit Free Press, 21 Jan. 2020
  • But that wouldn’t explain the travails of Germany’s Olaf Scholz.
    — David Lauter, Los Angeles Times, 17 Dec. 2023
  • Perhaps nothing better sums up the travails of the Cubs than Darvish.
    — Jon Tayler, SI.com, 5 Sep. 2019
  • June, forever our guide through the travails of Gilead.
    — Elena Nicolaou, refinery29.com, 6 June 2019
  • For all of its own recent travails, the PSOE has never been as down on its luck as many of its peers are.
    — Omar G. Encarnación, The New York Review of Books, 28 May 2019
  • My old knees and my daily travails make that a deal-breaker.
    — Joyce Bautista Ferrari, Marie Claire, 27 Nov. 2019
  • These travails aren’t tidily resolved by the book’s end.
    — Matthew Gavin Frank, Harper's Magazine, 21 Oct. 2022
  • The travails, however, didn’t end with the hostages’ safe return.
    — Christopher Vourlias, Variety, 12 Jan. 2024
  • The shortcomings and travails of both countries pain me.
    — Lionel Shriver, Harper's magazine, 16 Sep. 2019
  • Who will miss the slaughterhouses, with their groan of travail that was never easy to bear in any age?
    — Matthew Scully, National Review, 17 Jan. 2021
  • The book details how the Red Sox developed the core of the 2018 World Series team and the behind-the-scenes triumphs and travails that went into it.
    — Peter Abraham, BostonGlobe.com, 17 Aug. 2019
  • So where do Tesla’s travails leave Eichin and her Cybertruck?
    — Simon Willis, Fortune, 27 July 2023
  • Last week, Schapiro broke a new story about Giuliani’s travails.
    — Jody Rosen, The New Yorker, 5 Nov. 2019
  • My son, who’s a math junkie, couldn’t get enough of the math-nerd-saves-the-day scenes, only to give up on the movie when the Athletics’ travails in the field proved too stressful to watch.
    — Alexandra Samuel, WSJ, 25 Nov. 2018
  • On this night, at least, the Dodgers devised a solution for Jansen's travails: Score so many runs he was not needed.
    — Andy McCullough, latimes.com, 19 Apr. 2018
  • Carolyn was able to capture the honor and travail of spending 24/7 with young children so well.
    — Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 17 May 2022
  • Beirut, of course, is a place that has seen more than its share of travails, as the opening footage of the city in ruins in 1980 during the Lebanese Civil War illustrates.
    — Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 July 2023
  • The third phase is three capes Craig created to symbolize friends’ travails.
    — Susan Dunne, courant.com, 28 Apr. 2018
  • The Verge has an inside look at the trials and travails of content moderators at Google’s YouTube.
    — Robert Hackett, Fortune, 18 Dec. 2019
  • Sometimes the ruse exploits kindness: the mark is moved to generosity on hearing of the prince’s travails.
    — Patrick Radden Keefe, The New Yorker, 5 Feb. 2024
  • To be fair, the book is barely mentioned after the setup, and the focus shifts to the characters’ romantic travails and the gluey life lessons to be learned from them.
    — Ty Burr, BostonGlobe.com, 17 May 2018
  • So when Johnson shared with Duncan his prom suit travails, Duncan went to Lipstein for help.
    — Elizabeth Wellington, Philly.com, 18 May 2018
  • At a forum like the P.G.A. Championship, those travails separate the elite from the crowd of also-rans that will be thick since the field includes 156 players.
    — Alan Blinder, New York Times, 16 May 2023
  • Schultz’s book explains why this was so, in part by describing the travails of various enslaved people and the Ohioans who helped them.
    — Michael Dirda, Washington Post, 22 June 2023
  • Wenger is no stranger to the travails of moving into a new home, following Arsenal's switch from Highbury to the Emirates in 2006.
    — SI.com, 12 May 2018
  • In recent months, a new word has crept into the language: tracances, a mashup of work (travail) and vacation (vacances).
    — Vivienne Walt, Fortune, 2 Feb. 2023
  • And the increase in suicides in Massachusetts has been blamed on the travails of middle-aged men, who account for the largest number of suicide deaths.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 8 June 2018
  • On top of all of this, the political prize at the root of those travails — Jared Kushner’s White House post — appears to be losing its luster.
    — Sharon Lafraniere, BostonGlobe.com, 1 Apr. 2018
  • For months Boeing seemed to treat the MAX’s travails as a brief spell of turbulence that passengers forget as soon as the drinks trolley arrives.
    — The Economist, 18 Dec. 2019

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

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