labour

CEFRB2

/ˈleɪ.bə/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    The British spelling of labor, meaning work or physical effort.

  2. 02

    noun

    The process of giving birth to a baby.

Examples

  • "I'd rather get the sack than not join the labour union," said the disgruntled worker.

  • Surpassing labour intensive, capital intensive, the age has shifted greatly to knowledge intensive.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. That which requires hard work for its accomplishment; that which demands effort.

  2. Workers in general; the working class, the workforce; sometimes specifically the labour movement, organised labour.

  3. An effort expended on a particular task; toil, work.

More examples

In context

  • The construction project required months of hard physical labour to complete.

  • I think we've all got the idea. There's no need to labour the point.

  • Near-synonyms: childbirth, parturition

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The union fought for safer conditions for blank workers in factories.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English labor, labour, labur, from Old French labor (modern labeur) and its etymon, Latin labor.