labor

Language: en

🇬🇧 /ˈleɪbə/ 🇺🇸 /ˈleɪbɜr/

📖 Definitions

  1. noun
    Physical or mental work, especially of a hard or exhausting nature; toil.; The body of workers considered as a class; the workforce.; The process of childbirth, especially the period of uterine contractions from the onset to the delivery of the baby.; A task or piece of work, especially one that is difficult or requires great effort.; The cost or expense of work done; wages paid for work.; A political party representing the interests of workers, especially the Labour Party in the United Kingdom or Australia.
  2. verb
    To work hard; to exert oneself physically or mentally.; To move or proceed with great difficulty or effort.; To dwell on or elaborate a point excessively; to belabor.; To be under a mistaken belief or impression; to suffer from a delusion.; To experience the process of giving birth; to be in labor.

🔗 Details

Word forms

countable / uncountable Plural: labors 3rd sing.: labors Past: labored Past part.: labored Pres part.: laboring

Collocations

hard laborlabor forcelabor marketlabor unionlabor of lovein labormanual laborlabor intensive

Derivatives

laborerlaboriouslaboriouslylaboriousnesslaboratory

Synonyms

worktoileffortdrudgerytravailexertion

Antonyms

restleisureidleness

Commonly confused

labour
EN: 'Labour' is simply the British English spelling of the same word; 'labor' is American English.
laborious
EN: 'Laborious' is the adjective meaning requiring great effort; 'labor' is the noun/verb form.

Spelling tips

EN: American English spells it 'labor' (no 'u'), while British English uses 'labour'. Be consistent within a document.

💬 Examples

  1. The construction of the bridge required months of hard labor.

  2. Labor and management finally reached an agreement after weeks of negotiation.

  3. She was in labor for twelve hours before the baby was born.

  4. Writing the encyclopedia was a labor that took him twenty years.

  5. The total cost includes materials and labor.

  6. Labor won the election by a narrow margin.

  7. The farmers labored in the fields from dawn to dusk.

  8. The old truck labored up the steep hill.

  9. There is no need to labor the point; we all understand the issue.

  10. He labors under the delusion that everyone is against him.