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
She started working at the pharmacy aged 15, and has cherished memories and friends from her decades of toil.
From BBC ● May 31, 2026
So it shouldn’t be surprising that women have played a central role in inventing products that reduced the physical toil of daily housework.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
Darwin’s calculations showed that the toil of earthworms might add a laver of soil an inch to an inch and a half thick in a ten year period.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
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
While Noah toils away in the desert, artist Maya seeks to recolor her own faded view of the world.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 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
I love that the majority of Division I toils away outside the spotlight, but N.C.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 21, 2023
Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come.
From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney
Rory McIlroy says "he felt lost" as he toiled to a 66th-place finish - 25 strokes behind champion Scottie Scheffler - at the St Jude Championship.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
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
An odd-looking waggon laden with odd-looking packages rolled into Hobbiton one evening and toiled up the Hill to Bag End.
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien
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
Thousands have spent the past three days similarly toiling away, without government support.
From Barron's ● Jun. 27, 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
Others say the rule changes unfairly threaten the wealth they've spent their lives toiling for.
From BBC ● May 12, 2026
Marti watched as a CIA technician, toiling away in the cramped embassy office, carefully assembled a dead-drop package designed to look like a beat-up pack of cigarettes.
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
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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