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 labor market is showing signs of strain.
From Barron's • Apr. 14, 2026
More pushback could come from each airline’s global alliance partners — international carriers that work together to provide global coverage — and labor unions, he said.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 14, 2026
It also means a new economic challenge for the central bank, which is simultaneously contending with a slowing labor market.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 14, 2026
Elected officials, labor unions and other groups that had endorsed Swalwell abandoned him en masse after the allegations against him were publicized.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 13, 2026
But the labor of enslaved Black people was the foundation of the South’s agricultural economy.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
Vocabulary lists containing labor
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Labor Day Lexicon: Words That Put You To Work
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Working Together: The Language of Unions
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