labor
Usage
What are other ways to say labor?
Labor particularly denotes hard manual work: backbreaking labor; arduous labor. Drudgery suggests continuous, dreary, and dispiriting work, especially of a menial or servile kind: the drudgery of household tasks. Toil suggests wearying or exhausting labor: toil that breaks down the worker's health. Work is the general word and may apply to exertion that is either easy or hard: fun work; heavy work.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz upended global energy supply chains, “nobody’s talking about reacceleration now,” said Guy Berger, a labor economist.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 4, 2026
Owens has continued to work consistently since the viral moment, taking on roles across television and film while also speaking openly about the importance of valuing all forms of labor.
From Salon • Apr. 4, 2026
In pursuit of aesthetic purity, these designs erase any trace of human labor or the complex mechanisms beneath the surface.
From Slate • Apr. 4, 2026
The labor market had already been adjusting to a significant change in immigration policy that has reduced the pool of potential workers.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 4, 2026
But the labor of enslaved Black people was the foundation of the South’s agricultural economy.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
From Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
