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travail Definition

trav·ail (trə vāl, travāl′)

noun

  1. very hard work; toil
  2. labor pains; pains of childbirth
  3. intense pain; agony

Etymology: OFr < VL *tripalium, instrument of torture composed of three stakes < LL tripalis, of three stakes < L tri-, tri- + palus, a stake: see pale

intransitive verb

  1. to work very hard; toil
  2. to have labor pains; suffer the pains of childbirth

Etymology: ME travaillen < OFr travaillier, to labor, toil < VL *tripaliare, to torment < *tripalium

travail Synonyms

travail

n.

travail Usage Examples

Adjective modifier

  • sore: This is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail.
  • great: Those that have joined with their honor great travails, cares, or perils are less subject to envy.
  • recent: For all its recent travails, it seems to still serve a purpose as a safe haven in a storm.
  • long: At some time during that long travail - no-one knows quite when - he decided on a far more revolutionary plan.
  • much: And so after much travail we come to Vote, Vote, Vote For Nigel Barton.
  • own: Both families are too absorbed in their own travails to take much notice of the children.

Modifies a noun

sur: Un intérêt pour le développement social et le travail sur le terrain avec les plus pauvres et le monde rural.

Modifying Another Word

not: While the world around us perish, we do not travail.

Noun used with modifier

  • son: Avant qu'il ( ne ) parte en vacances, il doit finir son travail.
  • mon: Et des années plus tard, cela devait être aussi le point de départ de mon travail en physique théorique.

Preposition: in

  • work: Surely right naught; and therefore I tell thee no more but those that fall unto thee if thou travail in this work.
  • prayer: You know, I used to travail in prayer that God would show me His glory.

Preposition: of

  • life: We are victorious when we don't allow the travails of life to get us down.
  • soul: Let us rather seek to be poured forth as an offering, then to do much without feeling the least travail of soul.
  • economy: Gradually, as Britain pulled through the travails of the post-war economy London rejuvenated.
  • industry: It was reporting on the latest information concerning the travails of the railroad industry, as it tries to deliver on its promised targets.