1
as in distress
a state of great suffering of body or mind
no greater travail than that of parents who have suffered the death of a child
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in labor
very hard or unpleasant work
these villagers now have decent housing, so our travail has not been in vain
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in childbirth
the act or process of giving birth to children
a midwife assisted her throughout her long travail
Synonyms & Similar Words
as in to labor
to devote serious and sustained effort
Labor Day is the day on which we recognize those men and women who daily travail with little appreciation or compensation
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of travail
Mark Sutherland, Variety, 22 May 2025
Her travails range from financial impecunity to employment instability and from getting stuck in an elevator to dealing with a crummy boyfriend.
—Chicago Tribune, 19 May 2025
Sarah Crompton, Vogue, 16 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for travail
Noun
Singer-songwriter Self Esteem added to her growing list of accolades with the Visionary Award and gave a hilarious, yet heartfelt speech about the travails of being a woman in the music industry.
—Mark Sutherland, Variety, 22 May 2025
Her travails range from financial impecunity to employment instability and from getting stuck in an elevator to dealing with a crummy boyfriend.
—Chicago Tribune, 19 May 2025
Verb
For Zegler, making her British stage debut, Evita must seem like a haven of sorts after her travails with the controversy that grew around Snow White, where her casting was subject to racist attacks on social media about her Colombian heritage.
—Sarah Crompton, Vogue, 16 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for travail
Recent Examples of Synonyms for travail
Noun
-
To add insult to injury, distress at work has been linked to a decrease in innovative work behavior, meaning all that destructive stress ultimately may yield less inspiring work.—
Drew Gerber,
Forbes.com,
20 June 2025
-
The Tennessee law, like Idaho’s, centers on medical care for transgender youth that addresses gender dysphoria, or feelings of distress when a person’s body or presentation doesn’t match their gender identity.—
Nicole Blanchard,
Idaho Statesman,
19 June 2025
Noun
-
The club supports dads who have endured any type of perinatal loss – that is, death of a baby during pregnancy, labor or within the first few weeks after birth.—
Matt Villano,
CNN Money,
13 June 2025
-
Doctors scramble to treat people with heat stroke and pregnant women going into early labor due to triple-digit temperatures.—
Sammy Roth,
Los Angeles Times,
12 June 2025
Noun
-
China is moving to expand access to pain relief during childbirth as part of efforts to encourage mothers to have more children.—
Micah McCartney,
MSNBC Newsweek,
10 June 2025
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Few feel this more than athletes, whose livelihoods rely on their physical performance, which can shift dramatically after childbirth.—
Victoria Uwumarogie,
Essence,
10 June 2025
Verb
-
Both struggling defenders were pulled at halftime, replaced with like-for-like alternatives (Reed Baker-Whiting and Jon Bell) who fared better in the second half.—
Jeff Rueter,
New York Times,
16 June 2025
-
Apple has long dominated the smartphone market, and even at a competitive price, Trump's new phone will likely struggle to compete.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
16 June 2025
Noun
-
And that gave him some kind of legitimacy after 40 years of agony, derided by the music press.—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
11 June 2025
-
For more than a year, the Perry family waited in agony for answers.—
Christina Coulter,
People.com,
7 June 2025
Noun
-
Rose was part of an intense effort to secure those changes.—
David Folkenflik,
NPR,
16 June 2025
-
Any efforts to bridge the gap between these groups—universal pre-K, immigration, income tax, foreign aid—well, that’s just D.E.I. Ultimately, Lewis’s intervention is not to demolish the idea of genius as much as to narrow its definition.—
S. C. Cornell,
New Yorker,
16 June 2025
Verb
-
These latest additional targets, combined with the rising civilian casualties in Israel, constitute an escalation where both sides are striving to alienate the opposing side’s public from its leadership.—
Melik Kaylan,
Forbes.com,
16 June 2025
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For the striving artists, a steady job is not a compromise but a strategic advantage, a powerful catalyst for sustained creativity and personal well-being.—
Kice Akkawi,
Rolling Stone,
16 June 2025
Noun
-
Drawing heavily from Qiu’s biography, My Father’s Son centers on an 18-year-old protagonist, Qiao, who loses his voice while attempting to deliver the eulogy at his father’s funeral and flees in anguish.—
Patrick Brzeski,
HollywoodReporter,
19 June 2025
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Many of us watch in anguish as our compatriots abandon their homes, desperate for a safe haven beyond the reach of oppression and destruction.—
Nazanin Boniadi,
Time,
17 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Travail.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/travail. Accessed 27 Jun. 2025.
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