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.
The drop came despite a rebound in the U.S. labor market last month.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 8, 2026
Worries about the labor market eased somewhat after the government reported the U.S. economy added a solid 178,000 jobs in March.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 8, 2026
“If you hate your wife, it’s a lot easier to justify exploiting her unpaid labor for your own personal gain,” she told me.
From Salon • Apr. 8, 2026
And if AI is as successful as its advocates claim, it will have massive macroeconomic disturbances, particularly to the labor market.
From Barron's • Apr. 7, 2026
She was clearly in labor, and they had to bring her back to the midwife, to the safety of their own home.
From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day
