as in struggling
to devote serious and sustained effort
the young lawyer labored most of the weekend over the difficult legal brief
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Recent Examples of laboring
The Mets’ 3-1 Opening Day loss to the Houston Astros at Daikin Park featured a baserunning blunder, a botched double play and a starting pitcher who was laboring by the fourth inning and was removed with two outs in the fifth.
—
Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News, 27 Mar. 2025
The Mets’ 3-1 Opening Day loss to the Houston Astros at Daikin Park featured a base-running blunder, a botched double play and a starting pitcher who was laboring by the fourth inning and was removed with two outs in the fifth.
—Abbey Mastracco, Hartford Courant, 27 Mar. 2025
Other artists have spent decades laboring over their magnum opuses—Michael Heizer and James Turrell, with their sprawling land projects in the American West (City and Roden Crater, respectively), spring to mind—but few, if any, have worked only on those pieces.
—Julie Belcove, Robb Report, 23 Mar. 2025
Workers are laboring in 95 degree heat, surrounded by toxic soil.
—Anna Maria Barry-Jester, ProPublica, 17 Mar. 2025
The glorious future of the nation depends on everyone laboring at a fast pace, with no time to slow down and question what’s happening.
—Charlie Tyson, The New Yorker, 15 Mar. 2025
Over the years, Musk has made himself into a contemporary saint of overwork, laboring with a ferocity at once stunning and pathological.
—Charlie Tyson, The New Yorker, 15 Mar. 2025
Things only get less interesting as that love triangles widens into an awkward kind of square, the chiaroscuro splendor of Soderbergh’s cinematography laboring to compensate for a murder-mystery that’s as scattered and impenetrable as Berlin itself.
—David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 14 Mar. 2025
In a neatly circular argument, the conditions that had been forced on the laboring class became proof of its moral backwardness.
—Fintan O'Toole, The New Yorker, 10 Mar. 2025
Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News, 27 Mar. 2025
The Mets’ 3-1 Opening Day loss to the Houston Astros at Daikin Park featured a base-running blunder, a botched double play and a starting pitcher who was laboring by the fourth inning and was removed with two outs in the fifth.
—Abbey Mastracco, Hartford Courant, 27 Mar. 2025
Other artists have spent decades laboring over their magnum opuses—Michael Heizer and James Turrell, with their sprawling land projects in the American West (City and Roden Crater, respectively), spring to mind—but few, if any, have worked only on those pieces.
—Julie Belcove, Robb Report, 23 Mar. 2025
Workers are laboring in 95 degree heat, surrounded by toxic soil.
—Anna Maria Barry-Jester, ProPublica, 17 Mar. 2025
The glorious future of the nation depends on everyone laboring at a fast pace, with no time to slow down and question what’s happening.
—Charlie Tyson, The New Yorker, 15 Mar. 2025
Over the years, Musk has made himself into a contemporary saint of overwork, laboring with a ferocity at once stunning and pathological.
—Charlie Tyson, The New Yorker, 15 Mar. 2025
Things only get less interesting as that love triangles widens into an awkward kind of square, the chiaroscuro splendor of Soderbergh’s cinematography laboring to compensate for a murder-mystery that’s as scattered and impenetrable as Berlin itself.
—David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 14 Mar. 2025
In a neatly circular argument, the conditions that had been forced on the laboring class became proof of its moral backwardness.
—Fintan O'Toole, The New Yorker, 10 Mar. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for laboring
Verb
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But because of passenger complaints and the need to revitalize a struggling tourist economy, the government adopted new regulations last month that will force a change in these habits.—
Natasha Frost,
New York Times,
6 Jan. 2025
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Ordinary Americans also work for league media arms such as the NFL Network, which last year conducted layoffs, or their partners, including regional sports networks that are struggling to keep pace.—
Michael McCann,
Sportico.com,
6 Jan. 2025
Verb
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This means going beyond policies and quotas, striving instead for cultural norms where differences are not only accepted but celebrated.—
Mo Hamzian,
Forbes,
27 Dec. 2024
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By contrast, the sneaker trends that have defined the latter half of this year–and those forecast for next–suggest many people are striving for anti-mainstream designs.—
Alice Cary,
Vogue,
26 Dec. 2024
Verb
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There have been many examples of that from our first edition up until today with global producers and DJs working with top headliners from Saudi, Egypt, Lebanon and rest of the Arab world.—
Nick Vivarelli,
Variety,
27 Dec. 2024
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Before coming to The Athletic, Weiss spent a decade working for the government, primarily as a compliance bank regulator.—
Jared Weiss,
The Athletic,
27 Dec. 2024
Cite this Entry
“Laboring.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/laboring. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025.
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