toil
1 of 3noun (1)
ˈtȯi(-ə)l 
1
: long strenuous fatiguing labor
2
archaic
a
: struggle, battle
b
: laborious effort
toilful
ˈtȯi(-ə)l-fəl
adjective toilfully
ˈtȯi(-ə)l-fə-lē
adverb toil
2 of 3verb
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
noun toil
3 of 3noun (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)
- donkeywork
- drudge
- drudgery
- fatigue
- grind
- labor
- moil
- slavery
- sweat
- travail
Verb
- bang away
- beaver (away)
- dig (away)
- drudge
- endeavor
- fag
- grub
- hump
- hustle
- labor
- moil
- peg (away)
- plod
- plow
- plug
- slave
- slog
- strain
- strive
- struggle
- sweat
- travail
- tug
- work
Noun (2)
- entanglement
- mesh(es)
- morass
- net
- noose
- quagmire
- quicksand
- snare
- tanglement
- trap
- web
See all Synonyms & Antonyms 
Example Sentences
Verb workers toiling in the fields They were toiling up a steep hill.
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
Kids Definition
toil 1 of 2
noun
ˈtȯil
: long hard labor
toil
2 of 2verb
toiled; toiling
1
: to work hard and long
2
: to go on with effort
They were toiling up a steep hill.
toiled
verb
as in labored
to devote serious and sustained effort toiled for many years on the mammoth outdoor sculpture Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- labored
- struggled
- worked
- wrought
- sweated
- slaved
- tried
- drudged
- travailed
- endeavored
- hustled
- strived
- strove
- plowed
- tugged
- grubbed
- slogged
- sweat
- plodded
- humped
- fagged
- plugged
- banged away
- strained
- moiled
- sweat blood
- sweated blood
- dug (away)
- essayed
- beavered (away)
- pegged (away)
- attacked
- exerted
- trudged
- exercised
- pitched in
- drove
- waded
- scratched
- knuckled down
- dug in
- scrabbled
- overworked
- eked out
- overexerted
- hammered (away)
- buckled (down)
- applied (oneself)
- put out
- ground (out)
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- broke
- slackened
- lounged
- loafed
- idled
- shirked
- dallied
- lazed
- eased (up)
- chilled
- rested
- basked
- let up
- lolled
- played
- hung (around or out)
- reposed
- hanged (around or out)
- hung
- bummed
- dabbled
- slacked (off)
- hacked (around)
- relaxed
- unwound
- goofed (off)
- trifled
- hanged
- goldbricked
- dillydallied
- doodled
- footled
- vegged out
- puttered (around)
- fooled around
- pottered (around)
- hung about
- goofed (around)
- monkeyed (around)
- fribbled
- messed around
- stop (by)
- stop (over)
- stop (someone) in his/her tracks
- stop (up)
- stop at nothing
- stop bath
- stop bead
- stop bud
- stop by
- stop by or in
- stop card
- stop clock
- stop dead in one's tracks
- stop down
- stop drill
- stop fluting
- stop gage
- stop in
- stop in her tracks
- stop in his tracks
- stop in one's tracks
- stop knob
- stop log
- stop net
- stop netting