toil
Usage
What are other ways to say toil?
Toil suggests wearying or exhausting labor: toil that breaks down the worker's health. Drudgery suggests continuous, dreary, and dispiriting work, especially of a menial or servile kind: the drudgery of household tasks. Labor particularly denotes hard manual work: backbreaking labor; arduous labor. 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.
See Examples For:
This is an incredible start to their adult life; most working people take years of toil to get to that level.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 10, 2026
Putting my first special out has been so liberating because as a comedian, we can toil and toil forever, moving punchlines around, moving premises around, and new current events can influence your content.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026
When the new Rangers striker made it 2-1, then 3-1, a day of toil against the 10 men of Curacao - world ranking of 82 - turned into something altogether more palatable.
From BBC ● May 30, 2026
Escaping the dirt and sweaty toil of the farm was her goal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 26, 2026
We were never very demonstrative in our family; poor folk who toil and are full of cares are not so.
From "All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel" by Erich Maria Remarque
CHERAW, S.C.—Inside a Schaeffler SHA0 -3.78%decrease; red down pointing triangle auto-parts factory, a most unusual worker toils away.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 15, 2026
In a remote corner of the Bannau Brycheiniog, or Brecon Beacons, on fallow farmland hosting three sites of special scientific interest, Paul toils over his creations, surrounded by heat and metal.
From BBC ● Dec. 6, 2025
A large proportion of the work force toils on farms, for instance, and a relatively small part of it is employed in factories.
From New York Times ● Apr. 1, 2024
Boyarsky toils in a back room drenched in natural light, her cat Roxy at her side.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2023
Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come.
From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney
Most players who have toiled in the minor league system debut in front of applauding friends and family.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2026
Veteran Jessica Pegula, 32, the top-ranked American who also toiled away on the sport’s lower tier before becoming a top-10 mainstay, appreciates Liu’s resolve.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026
Scotland toiled at all three of those tournaments but they got there.
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2026
Casemiro, 34, showed his age as he toiled in the heat before he was replaced at half-time as Morocco dominated without adding to the lead given to them by Ismael Saibari.
From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2026
Granddaddy toiled on with me at his elbow whenever I could escape to the laboratory with him.
From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly
With two more days of good weather expected, India have the chance to keep a tired England toiling and bat them out of the game on day three.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
Working, after all, is how a majority of people must spend most of their waking hours, and toiling away in an industry or at a position you find grating will undoubtedly make you miserable.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 22, 2026
In 1940, Woody Guthrie sat in a Midtown Manhattan hotel, toiling over lyrics for what would become “This Land Is Your Land.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2026
Sharda Devi, 55, a settler's daughter, recalls the first arrivals "toiling in some of the harshest conditions" to carve plantations out of the tangled forests.
From Barron's ● May 18, 2026
We went, the three of us, to the quarry, joining the bedraggled groups of workers toiling along the winding, muddy road.
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
Vocabulary lists containing toil
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Animal Farm
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