English vocabulary · C1
Toil
/tɔɪl/ · v., n.
To toil is to work very hard for a long time. The job takes so much strength that your body aches, yet there is still more work to do.
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Example sentences
- Farmers toil in the hot sun.
- Her hands showed years of toil.
Word origin and roots
from Anglo-French
- toil — hard fight (from Anglo-French)
Synonyms and nuances
- LABOR — do hard physical work (Hard Work)
- SLAVE — work extremely hard (Too Much Work)
- SLOG — work with great effort (Slow Hard Work)
Similar words
- labor
- slave
- slog
- work
- strive
Lesson notes
To toil is to work very hard for a long time. The job takes so much strength that your body aches, yet there is still more work to do.
Related: labor, slave, slog. Use toil when work feels both long and hard.
Farmers toil in the hot sun. Her hands showed years of toil.
From Anglo-French. Toil- means hard fight. A hard fight with dry soil is toil.