travails
Burdensome toil endured
Travails are painful struggles or laborious efforts, especially those that are prolonged or exhausting.
The word carries a sense of suffering through difficulty: the travails of raising teenagers, the travails of war.
To travail is to labor painfully, though the noun is far more common.
The singular travail appears occasionally but sounds more literary than the plural.
Strenuous effort; also childbirth
- exertionVigorous physical effort
- drudgeryHard, boring work
- grindCrush into particles
- sweatMoisture from skin pores
effort · slog · work · pains · striving · industriousness · laboriousness · tirelessness
Severe difficulty or suffering
- tribulationState of great distress
- ordealDifficult, painful experience
- afflictionCause of ongoing distress
- sufferingSustained experience of distress
misfortune · woe · anguish · distress · plight · calamity · misery · setback
Measure of heaviness
- loadCarried weight or burden
- encumbranceHindrance or legal claim
- yokeCrosspiece binding draft animals
- millstoneGrain-crushing circular stone
albatross · onus · obligation · responsibility · pressure · strain · cross to bear · heavy lifting
Armed military engagement
- fightPhysical or verbal conflict
- conflictOpposition between parties
- challengeTest of ability
- obstacleSomething blocking the way
strife · uphill battle · resistance · contention · clash · wrestling · grappling · combat
labor
Strenuous effort; also childbirth
sweat · effort · slog · work · pains · striving · industriousness · laboriousness · tirelessness · diligence
adversity
Severe difficulty or suffering
- tribulationState of great distress
- ordealDifficult, painful experience
- afflictionCause of ongoing distress
suffering · misfortune · woe · anguish · distress · plight · calamity · misery · setback · grief
weight
Measure of heaviness
- loadCarried weight or burden
- encumbranceHindrance or legal claim
- yokeCrosspiece binding draft animals
millstone · albatross · onus · obligation · responsibility · pressure · strain · cross to bear · heavy lifting · liability
battle
Armed military engagement
obstacle · strife · uphill battle · resistance · contention · clash · wrestling · grappling · combat · opposition
travailsease
Lack of strain
comfort · effortlessness · facility · simplicity · smoothness