labor
Usage
What are other ways to say labor?
Labor particularly denotes hard manual work: backbreaking labor; arduous labor. Drudgery suggests continuous, dreary, and dispiriting work, especially of a menial or servile kind: the drudgery of household tasks. Toil suggests wearying or exhausting labor: toil that breaks down the worker's health. 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.
There are reasons to think the labor market can withstand this hit like the others before.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 4, 2026
The March jobs report offered a reminder of why so many economists have been reluctant to bet against the U.S. labor market: Even after four years of shocks, it keeps finding its footing.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 4, 2026
But after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz upended global energy supply chains, “nobody’s talking about reacceleration now,” said Guy Berger, a labor economist.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 4, 2026
"As the labor market softens due to the fallout from the war, we expect the unemployment rate to edge up," she said.
From Barron's • Apr. 3, 2026
But most students heard little about the hundreds of people forced to labor in Washington’s house and fields, or the enslaved men who fought America’s wars and built the White House.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
From Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
