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TRAVAIL
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Use of physical or mental energy; hard work
Example:
they managed only with great exertion
Synonyms:
effort; elbow grease; exertion; sweat; travail
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("travail" is a kind of...):
labor; labour; toil (productive work (especially physical work done for wages))
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "travail"):
struggle (strenuous effort)
difficulty; trouble (an effort that is inconvenient)
least effort; least resistance (the least effortful way to do something)
strain; straining (an intense or violent exertion)
exercise; exercising; physical exercise; physical exertion; workout (the activity of exerting your muscles in various ways to keep fit)
pull (a sustained effort)
application; diligence (a diligent effort)
overkill (any effort that seems to go farther than would be necessary to achieve its goal)
supererogation (an effort above and beyond the call of duty)
overexertion (excessive exertion; so much exertion that discomfort or injury results)
detrition; friction; rubbing (effort expended in moving one object over another with pressure)
Derivation:
travail (work hard)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Concluding state of pregnancy; from the onset of contractions to the birth of a child
Example:
she was in labor for six hours
Synonyms:
childbed; confinement; labor; labour; lying-in; parturiency; travail
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("travail" is a kind of...):
birth; birthing; giving birth; parturition (the process of giving birth)
Meronyms (parts of "travail"):
uterine contraction (a rhythmic tightening in labor of the upper uterine musculature that contracts the size of the uterus and pushes the fetus toward the birth canal)
effacement (shortening of the uterine cervix and thinning of its walls as it is dilated during labor)
asynclitism; obliquity (the presentation during labor of the head of the fetus at an abnormal angle)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "travail"):
premature labor; premature labour (labor beginning prior to the 37th week of gestation)
Holonyms ("travail" is a part of...):
gestation; maternity; pregnancy (the state of being pregnant; the period from conception to birth when a woman carries a developing fetus in her uterus)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Work hard
Example:
Lexicographers drudge all day long
Synonyms:
dig; drudge; fag; grind; labor; labour; moil; toil; travail
Classified under:
Verbs of political and social activities and events
Hypernyms (to "travail" is one way to...):
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP
Derivation:
travail (use of physical or mental energy; hard work)
