LABOR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Labor mean? 

• LABOR (noun)
  The noun LABOR has 7 senses:

1. a social class comprising those who do manual labor or work for wages

2. productive work (especially physical work done for wages)

3. concluding state of pregnancy; from the onset of contractions to the birth of a child

4. an organized attempt by workers to improve their status by united action (particularly via labor unions) or the leaders of this movement

5. a political party formed in Great Britain in 1900; characterized by the promotion of labor's interests and formerly the socialization of key industries

6. the federal department responsible for promoting the working conditions of wage earners in the United States; created in 1913

7. any piece of work that is undertaken or attempted

  Familiarity information: LABOR used as a noun is common.

• LABOR (verb)
  The verb LABOR has 3 senses:

1. strive and make an effort to reach a goal

2. work hard

3. undergo the efforts of childbirth

  Familiarity information: LABOR used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LABOR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A social class comprising those who do manual labor or work for wages

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

labor; labour; proletariat; working class

Context example:

there is a shortage of skilled labor in this field

Hypernyms ("labor" is a kind of...):

class; social class; socio-economic class; stratum (people having the same social, economic, or educational status)

Meronyms (members of "labor"):

prole; proletarian; worker (a member of the working class (not necessarily employed))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "labor"):

labor force; labor pool (the source of trained people from which workers can be hired)

lumpenproletariat ((Marxism) the unorganized lower levels of the proletariat who are not interested in revolutionary advancement)

organized labor (employees who are represented by a labor union)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Productive work (especially physical work done for wages)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

labor; labour; toil

Context example:

his labor did not require a great deal of skill

Hypernyms ("labor" is a kind of...):

work (activity directed toward making or doing something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "labor"):

corvee (unpaid labor (as for the maintenance of roads) required by a lord of his vassals in lieu of taxes)

donkeywork; drudgery; grind; plodding (hard monotonous routine work)

effort; elbow grease; exertion; sweat; travail (use of physical or mental energy; hard work)

hunt; hunting (the work of finding and killing or capturing animals for food or pelts)

hackwork (professional work done according to formula)

haymaking (cutting grass and curing it to make hay)

manual labor; manual labour (labor done with the hands)

overwork; overworking (the act of working too much or too long)

slavery (work done under harsh conditions for little or no pay)

roping (capturing cattle or horses with a lasso)

Derivation:

labor (work hard)

laborious (characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion; especially physical effort)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Concluding state of pregnancy; from the onset of contractions to the birth of a child

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

childbed; confinement; labor; labour; lying-in; parturiency; travail

Context example:

she was in labor for six hours

Hypernyms ("labor" is a kind of...):

birth; birthing; giving birth; parturition (the process of giving birth)

Meronyms (parts of "labor"):

uterine contraction (a rhythmic tightening in labor of the upper uterine musculature that contracts the size of the uterus and pushes the fetus toward the birth canal)

asynclitism; obliquity (the presentation during labor of the head of the fetus at an abnormal angle)

effacement (shortening of the uterine cervix and thinning of its walls as it is dilated during labor)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "labor"):

premature labor; premature labour (labor beginning prior to the 37th week of gestation)

Holonyms ("labor" is a part of...):

gestation; maternity; pregnancy (the state of being pregnant; the period from conception to birth when a woman carries a developing fetus in her uterus)

Derivation:

labor (undergo the efforts of childbirth)

Sense 4

Meaning:

An organized attempt by workers to improve their status by united action (particularly via labor unions) or the leaders of this movement

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

labor; labor movement; trade union movement

Hypernyms ("labor" is a kind of...):

reform movement (a movement intended to bring about social and humanitarian reforms)

Meronyms (parts of "labor"):

brotherhood; labor union; trade union; trades union; union (an organization of employees formed to bargain with the employer)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "labor"):

I.W.W.; Industrial Workers of the World; IWW (a former international labor union and radical labor movement in the United States; founded in Chicago in 1905 and dedicated to the overthrow of capitalism; its membership declined after World War I)

trade unionism; unionism (the system or principles and theory of labor unions)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A political party formed in Great Britain in 1900; characterized by the promotion of labor's interests and formerly the socialization of key industries

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

British Labour Party; Labor; Labour; Labour Party

Hypernyms ("Labor" is a kind of...):

labor party; labour party (a left-of-center political party formed to represent the interest of ordinary working people)

Meronyms (members of "Labor"):

Labourite (a member of the British Labour Party)

Sense 6

Meaning:

The federal department responsible for promoting the working conditions of wage earners in the United States; created in 1913

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

Department of Labor; DoL; Labor; Labor Department

Hypernyms ("Labor" is a kind of...):

executive department (a federal department in the executive branch of the government of the United States)

Meronyms (parts of "Labor"):

Occupational Safety and Health Administration; OSHA (a government agency in the Department of Labor to maintain a safe and healthy work environment)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Any piece of work that is undertaken or attempted

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

labor; project; task; undertaking

Context example:

he prepared for great undertakings

Hypernyms ("labor" is a kind of...):

work (activity directed toward making or doing something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "labor"):

labor of love; labour of love (productive work performed voluntarily without material reward or compensation)

venture (any venturesome undertaking especially one with an uncertain outcome)

large order; tall order (a formidable task or requirement)

proposition (a task to be dealt with)

no-brainer (anything that requires little thought)

endurance contest; marathon (any long and arduous undertaking)

endeavor; endeavour; enterprise (a purposeful or industrious undertaking (especially one that requires effort or boldness))

baby (a project of personal concern to someone)

assignment (an undertaking that you have been assigned to do (as by an instructor))

adventure; dangerous undertaking; escapade; risky venture (a wild and exciting undertaking (not necessarily lawful))

breeze; child's play; cinch; duck soup; picnic; piece of cake; pushover; snap; walkover (any undertaking that is easy to do)

Instance hyponyms:

Manhattan Project (code name for the secret United States project set up in 1942 to develop atomic bombs for use in World War II)

Derivation:

labor (strive and make an effort to reach a goal)

labor (work hard)

• LABOR (verb)

Conjugation:

Sense 1

Meaning:

Strive and make an effort to reach a goal

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

drive; labor; labour; push; tug

Context example:

She is driving away at her doctoral thesis

Hypernyms (to "labor" is one way to...):

fight; struggle (make a strenuous or labored effort)

Verb group:

bear on; push (press, drive, or impel (someone) to action or completion of an action)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "labor"):

reach; strain; strive (to exert much effort or energy)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s to INFINITIVE

Derivation:

labor (any piece of work that is undertaken or attempted)

laborer (someone who works with their hands; someone engaged in manual labor)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Work hard

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

dig; drudge; fag; grind; labor; labour; moil; toil; travail

Context example:

Lexicographers drudge all day long

Hypernyms (to "labor" is one way to...):

do work; work (be employed)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

labor (productive work (especially physical work done for wages))

labor (any piece of work that is undertaken or attempted)

laborer (someone who works with their hands; someone engaged in manual labor)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Undergo the efforts of childbirth

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

labor; labour

Hypernyms (to "labor" is one way to...):

undergo (pass through)

"Labor" entails doing...:

bear; birth; deliver; give birth; have (cause to be born)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

labor (concluding state of pregnancy; from the onset of contractions to the birth of a child)

 Context examples 

It was not all Paradise by any means, but everyone was better for the division of labor system.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The monitoring of both maternal uterine contractions and fetal heart rate during the process of labor and delivery.

(Cardiotocography, NCI Thesaurus)

When you are ready to have your baby, you'll go through labor.

(Childbirth, Dept. of Health and Human Services Office on Women's Health)

On rereading your letter it seems to us that you are laboring under the misapprehension that we pay for unsolicited manuscripts.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The protrusion in the perineal area during the second stage of labor.

(Bulging Perineum, NCI Thesaurus)

Refers to workers doing skilled or semi-skilled manual labor.

(Blue-Collar Group, NCI Thesaurus)

A method to find the position of the fetal head in the uterine cavity in its descent during labor.

(Assessment of Fetal Attitude, NCI Thesaurus)

An intervention during the childbirth process to help the laboring mother deliver her baby.

(Assisted Labor, NCI Thesaurus)

A type of labor where the labor pain or discomfort is felt by the pregnant mother in her back.

(Back Labor, NCI Thesaurus)

The various distinct periods during the first stage of labor and childbirth; such as a latent, active or a transition phase.

(Phase of Labor, NCI Thesaurus)