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.
toiling
verb
as in laboring
to devote serious and sustained effort toiled for many years on the mammoth outdoor sculpture Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- laboring
- struggling
- working
- striving
- slaving
- drudging
- trying
- sweating
- plowing
- moiling
- hustling
- grubbing
- endeavoring
- slogging
- tugging
- travailing
- plodding
- straining
- plugging
- humping
- fagging
- banging away
- sweating blood
- digging (away)
- pegging (away)
- beavering (away)
- attacking
- trudging
- exerting
- scratching
- driving
- essaying
- exercising
- wading
- scrabbling
- pitching in
- overworking
- digging in
- overexerting
- knuckling down
- eking out
- buckling (down)
- applying (oneself)
- hammering (away)
- putting out
- grinding (out)
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- breaking
- slackening
- loafing
- lounging
- idling
- shirking
- resting
- lazing
- chilling
- dallying
- easing (up)
- lolling
- bumming
- basking
- hanging (around or out)
- playing
- reposing
- letting up
- unwinding
- hanging
- relaxing
- hacking (around)
- dabbling
- goldbricking
- slacking (off)
- trifling
- goofing (off)
- dillydallying
- footling
- doodling
- vegging out
- puttering (around)
- fooling around
- hanging about
- goofing (around)
- pottering (around)
- monkeying (around)
- fribbling
- messing around
