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
Many entrepreneurs toil for years toward a big payday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026
Most toil on the building sites of the Gulf and Saudi Arabia or in hotels and factories there, while others work in India and Malaysia.
From Barron's ● Feb. 16, 2026
“He had little choice but to toil ahead.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 30, 2026
‘Then if we are going to toil through bog and briar, let’s go now!’ said Pippin.
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien
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
He toiled earlier in the race before coming into great form to claim the king of the mountains' polka dot jersey.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
A native of Sonora, Mexico, Yepez and her husband toiled at various food trucks and restaurants until 2018, when they launched a series of stands named after their daughter: Ricos Tacos Naomi.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 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
Before becoming a delivery driver, he toiled for nearly two years in factories, working 12-hour shifts while making about $170 a month.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 23, 2026
On the screen the faint, old, robed figure of Mercer toiled upward, and all at once a rock sailed past him.
From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick
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
The soccer-mad northerner spent his early years in politics toiling under prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 4, 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
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
“You’re not suffocating, toiling in a building like city fools up north.”
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Vocabulary lists containing toil
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Labor Day Lexicon: Words That Put You To Work
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Animal Farm
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