noun
travail
Travail (noun) means Hard, exhausting effort that involves suffering or hardship.
noun
1
Hard, exhausting effort that involves suffering or hardship.
"And the British mandarin Left, like their contemporaries in the Foreign Office, had little time for the travails of the small countries between Germany and Russia, whom they had always regarded as something of a nuisance."
— Tony Judt, Culture Wars (2005)
"Volkswagen’s travails are symbolic of the nation’s overall economic malaise and a political crisis that collapsed the government in December, paving the way for early elections Feb. 23."
— Lenora Chu, How Volkswagen slid from German engineering icon to innovation laggard (2025)
"In the most egregious examples, these stories harness a particular woman’s travails without acknowledging the systems and forces that contributed to her treatment and how these systems persist in our own time."
— Alexis Soloski, Why the Sudden Urge to Reconsider Famous Women? (2022)
2
The pain and effort of giving birth.
3
Work, especially of a physical kind.
4
The blocking of light from a star, planet or moon by another body passing in front of it.
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Rhymes for travail
See all rhymes for travail →Frequently asked questions
What is the meaning of travail?
"travail" (noun) means hard, exhausting effort that involves suffering or hardship.
What is another word for travail?
Other words for "travail" include effort, labor, labour, confinement, sweat, exertion.
What is the opposite of travail?
Opposites of "travail" include leisure, rest, ease.
What are the different meanings of travail?
"travail" has 3 main meanings: 1. Hard, exhausting effort that involves suffering or hardship; 2. The pain and effort of giving birth; 3. Work, especially of a physical kind.
