travail
1 of 2noun
travail
2 of 2verb
intransitive verb
Did you know?
Etymologists are pretty certain that travail comes from trepalium, the Late Latin name of an instrument of torture. We don't know exactly what a trepalium looked like, but the word's history gives us an idea. Trepalium is derived from the Latin tripalis, which means "having three stakes" (from tri-, meaning "three," and palus, meaning "stake"). From trepalium sprang the Anglo-French verb travailler, which originally meant "to torment" but eventually acquired the milder senses "to trouble" and "to journey." The Anglo-French noun travail was borrowed into English in the 13th century, along with another descendant of travailler, travel.
Synonyms
Noun
- affliction
- agony
- anguish
- distress
- excruciation
- hurt
- misery
- pain
- rack
- strait(s)
- torment
- torture
- tribulation
- woe
Verb
- bang away
- beaver (away)
- dig (away)
- drudge
- endeavor
- fag
- grub
- hump
- hustle
- labor
- moil
- peg (away)
- plod
- plow
- plug
- slave
- slog
- strain
- strive
- struggle
- sweat
- toil
- tug
- work
Example Sentences
Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 17 May 2022 Cognates are words that are related etymologically, as travail and travel are … at least historically. James Harbeck, The Week, 23 Feb. 2022 But over time, travel and travail split into two different words. James Harbeck, The Week, 23 Feb. 2022 Steinbeck follows their trek through the travail and injustice that accompanied every step of their journey. Steve West, sun-sentinel.com, 3 June 2021 Who will miss the slaughterhouses, with their groan of travail that was never easy to bear in any age? Matthew Scully, National Review, 17 Jan. 2021 Forty is a biblical number, used as shorthand for a long period of isolation and travail. Mark Jenkins, Washington Post, 12 Nov. 2020 Douglas and Paula Rigby inevitably find no easy answers to their financial travails and everyday ennui. oregonlive, 20 Mar. 2020 Luxe Antarctica: Modern-day Antarctic polar explorers don’t have to endure the harrowing travails of British pioneer Ernest Shackleton. Michael George, National Geographic, 15 Oct. 2019 See More Word History
Noun
Middle English, from Anglo-French, from travailler to torment, labor, journey, from Vulgar Latin *trepaliare to torture, from Late Latin trepalium instrument of torture, from Latin tripalis having three stakes, from tri- + palus stake — more at pole
Noun
13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a
Verb
13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Medical Definition
travail
noun
ˈtrav-ˌāl travail 1 of 2
noun
Synonyms & Similar Words
- distress
- agony
- anguish
- pain
- misery
- tribulation
- discomfort
- torment
- torture
- woe
- excruciation
- sorrow
- hurt
- affliction
- hardship
- pang
- rack
- heartbreak
- sadness
- difficulty
- trouble
- ache
- strait(s)
- heartache
- crucible
- unhappiness
- emergency
- danger
- cross
- trial
- joylessness
- jeopardy
- soreness
- stitch
- smarting
- rigor
- throe
- pinch
- twinge
- asperity
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- alleviation
- comfort
- relief
- solace
- consolation
- ease
- assuagement
- peace
- security
- well-being
Synonyms & Similar Words
- toil
- labor
- effort
- drudgery
- pains
- exertion
- fatigue
- slavery
- sweat
- drudge
- struggle
- grind
- moil
- donkeywork
- trouble
- responsibility
- job
- spadework
- tedium
- obligation
- duty
- chore
- treadmill
- routine
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- rest
- leisure
- relaxation
- ease
- repose
- play
- fun
- recreation
- decompression
- amusement
- sport
- entertainment
- diversion
- idleness
- inertia
- inactivity
- dalliance
- dormancy
- loafing
- inertness
- lounging
- goldbricking
- lolling
- dallying
Synonyms & Similar Words
- childbirth
- pregnancy
- childbearing
- labor
- parturition
- delivery
- pains
- abortion
- miscarriage
- accouchement
- contraction
- confinement
- birth pang
- childbed
- natural childbirth
- lying-in
- cesarean section
- caesarean section
travail
2 of 2verb
Synonyms & Similar Words
- labor
- struggle
- work
- toil
- drudge
- sweat
- endeavor
- tug
- slave
- strive
- moil
- hump
- plow
- slog
- try
- hustle
- grub
- strain
- bang away
- fag
- plug
- plod
- sweat blood
- peg (away)
- dig (away)
- exercise
- pitch in
- attack
- beaver (away)
- essay
- dig in
- eke out
- scratch
- knuckle down
- exert
- drive
- trudge
- apply (oneself)
- buckle (down)
- overwork
- wade
- overexert
- scrabble
- put out
- hammer (away)
- grind (out)
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- ease (up)
- break
- slacken
- hang (around or out)
- bum
- rest
- let up
- repose
- lounge
- idle
- loaf
- shirk
- chill
- hack (around)
- goof (off)
- slack (off)
- relax
- unwind
- bask
- play
- laze
- dally
- goldbrick
- hang
- trifle
- veg out
- fool around
- dillydally
- hang about
- loll
- goof (around)
- mess around
- footle
- monkey (around)
- doodle
- dabble
- potter (around)
- putter (around)
- fribble
Synonym Chooser
Some common synonyms of travail are drudgery, grind, labor, toil, and work. While all these words mean "activity involving effort or exertion," travail is bookish for labor involving pain or suffering.
The words drudgery and travail can be used in similar contexts, but drudgery suggests dull and irksome labor.
Although the words grind and travail have much in common, grind implies labor exhausting to mind or body.
While in some cases nearly identical to travail, labor applies to physical or intellectual work involving great and often strenuous exertion.
The meanings of toil and travail largely overlap; however, toil implies prolonged and fatiguing labor.
The words work and travail are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, work may imply activity of body, of mind, of a machine, or of a natural force.