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⚠️ A heavy cost 💰 A road fee 🔔 To ring slowly 🔔 A bell sound 💰 To charge fee
toll

toll

243 5.9
The harm or damage an event causes to people and property
  • noun
  • /toʊl/
: coste
  • This trip has taken a toll on me.
  • take its toll
  • the death toll
  • a heavy toll

So that that's the human toll of too much law, right?

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Examples

  • The 9/11 attacks have certainly taken a toll and continue to do so.

    Academic text (2011)

  • Being poor in this country can take a tremendous toll on any individual, but especially on children.

    Academic text (1993)

  • And no doubt it does take a toll to some degree.

    Gregory B. Sadler - That Philosophy Guy

  • This long winter has taken its toll.

    The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (2024)

  • Since malaria can take such a terrible toll on women who are pregnant.

    YaleCourses

  • I just want you to acknowledge the toll that it's taking on us.

    Last Chance Charlene (2022)

  • Severe environmental contamination has taken its toll on East European people and natural resources.

    Academic text (1990)

  • Prisoners are considered old at 50 because of the toll incarceration takes on their health.

    Academic text (2011)

  • Sometimes the diseases and afflictions took such a toll that dozens of children missed classes.

    Academic text (1991)

  • The prolonged drought has taken a heavy toll on the local farmers, reducing their harvest significantly.

Synonyms

price
vstoll
560 1.0

What you must give up to get something else

emphasizes resulting suffering or damage instead of the payment required
cost
vstoll
456 1.0

The effort, loss, or price you must pay to get something

focuses on harm or loss suffered as a consequence rather than required payment

Antonyms

to benefit
654 2.3

To help someone or be helped by something

gain
  • Specialized
531 2.3

An advantage that gives you more money or success

Compounds

death toll
  • Literature
82 3.5

Number of people who have died because of an accident, war, or disaster

toll road
9 2.5

A road you must pay to drive on, often a highway

toll bridge
3 3.2

A bridge you pay to cross

toll collector
2 3.1

A person who takes money from drivers at a road or bridge

toll plaza
2 3.2

A place on a road where drivers stop to pay money

toll call
2 4.9

A phone call to another city that costs more than a local call

toll taker
1 4.4

A person who collects money from drivers at a toll booth

Toll House cookie
  • US
1 2.7

A cookie with chocolate chips made from the original Toll House recipe

toll line
  • US
1 5.6

A phone connection for long distance calls that costs extra

toll agent
4.9

A person who collects money from drivers at a toll booth

How Severe

catastrophe
174 7.0
devastation
102 4.8
toll
243 5.9
harm
706 1.0
loss
102 1.1

Surface Forms

toll singular
tolls plural

Etymology

A helpful way to remember toll meaning the amount of suffering or loss is to think of it as the 'price' people pay; the word comes from the old idea of payment or counting, so the 'toll' of a disaster is the human cost it causes.