labor

Work that requires effort, especially work done with your body.

• The job involves heavy labor.
• Labor costs increased during construction.
• They saved money by doing all the labor themselves.

Similar words: work, toil

Common phrases: manual labor, hard labor, labor costs

Workers considered as a group, especially people who do physical work.

• The farm needs more labor.
• A shortage of skilled labor delayed the project.
• Management and labor agreed on a new contract.

Similar words: workforce, workers

Common phrases: skilled labor, labor shortage, labor force

The process before and during birth, when muscles push the baby out of the mother’s body.

• She is in labor.
• Her labor lasted six hours.
• The midwife helped her through the early stages of labor.

How to use it: be in labor (She was in labor when we reached the hospital.); go into labor (My sister went into labor last night.)

Similar words: childbirth

Common phrases: in labor, go into labor, early labor

The name of a political party connected with workers and their interests.

• Labor won the election.
• She voted for Labor last year.
• The Labor government announced its new policy.

Common phrases: Labor Party, Labor government, vote Labor

To work very hard, often for a long time.

• They labor in the fields.
• She labored over the difficult homework.
• We labored all morning to repair the fence.

How to use it: labor over something (He labored over the report for several days.); labor to do something (They labored to clear the fallen trees.)

Similar words: toil, work hard

Opposites: rest

Common phrases: labor over something, labor in something, labor all day

To explain or repeat something more than is needed.

• Please do not labor the point.
• He labored the argument until everyone lost interest.
• You are laboring a point we already understand.

Similar words: belabor

Common phrases: labor the point, labor an argument, labor the obvious