to toil
- verb
- /tɔɪl/
- He toiled for years in the factory to provide for his family.
- toil away
- toil night and day
- toil long hours
But so we could toil, they said, do the work of the gods.
- But so we could toil, they said, do the work of the gods.
- The closet is a sketch that I toiled over for quite some time.
- And it goes something like you're chasing the dream, chasing the dream, building a company, Work, work, work, work, toil, toil, toil.
- We're less likely to, you know, toil in a field under a king who gives us like these meagre rations.
- By the way, our colleagues who toil in the fields of science wring their hands about many of the same concerns.
- And he says when they procure these material things, they don't know for whom they do it, nor for whose benefit they toil.
- Influencer of sorts, but also someone who toiled for many years in many different capacities in the restaurant slash food service industries.
Examples
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For 23 years, I toiled side-by-side with your father.
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For many years, these individuals have toiled at many levels to support mentoring, not just in their schools, but in the university.
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We must continue to toil here.
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So after doing the initial pass, I will turn it over to Kit and let her toil away at this process.
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For a bottle of wine, for a piece of bread, people toil away for two days.
Fiction book (1996) -
Why commit that time and effort and toil to a story that you don't really care about?
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Don't worry, friends, I will toil night and day Until I discover a way to get you home.
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By the way, our colleagues who toil in the fields of science wring their hands about many of the same concerns.
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By age eleven, he was living alone in a "hut" and toiling as a shepherd.
Academic text (1995) -
Luke hurried home to his fields and toiled vigorously all day beside his big brown boy.
Fiction book (1996)
Synonyms
To try hard to get better at or finish something over time
To work hard for a long time at a dull or repeated task
To work hard on difficult physical tasks
To work hard at a task for a long time
Spend a lot of time doing hard, tiring tasks
To work hard for a long time on a task that is difficult or tiring
Do very hard, long jobs until you are very tired
To work hard at boring, repetitive tasks for a long time
To use a lot of energy to do a hard job for a long time
To work hard for a long time and suffer
To work very hard, often at a physical or long job
To work very hard doing physical or unpleasant jobs for a long time
To work very hard until you feel tired
To do very hard, long tasks until you are very tired
Antonyms
How Hard
Surface Forms
Etymology
Toil as a verb keeps that image: it is like 'pulling' a heavy load for a long time with steady effort. So to toil is to work very hard for a long time.