mindmap root((劳动)) work may imply activity of body, of mind, of a machine, or of a natural force, or it may apply to effort expended or to the product of such effort: too tired to do any ~. labor applies to physical or intellectual work involving great and often strenuous, onerous and fatiguing exertion: believes the farmers are poorly paid for their ~. travail is a somewhat bookish term for labor involving pain or suffering: years of ~ were lost when the building burned. toil implies prolonged and fatiguing labor: his lot would be years of back-breaking ~. drudgery suggests dull and irksome labor: a job with a good deal of ~. grind implies dreary, monotonous labor exhausting to the mind or body: the ~ of performing the play eight times a week.