LABOR

Pronunciation (US):

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

1. productive work (especially physical work done for wages)
2. a social class comprising those who do manual labor or work for wages
3. concluding state of pregnancy; from the onset of labor 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 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.

• LABOR (noun)

Meaning:

Productive work (especially physical work done for wages)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

labor; toil; labour

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"):

roping (capturing cattle or horses with a lasso)

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

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

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

haymaking (cutting grass and curing it to make hay)

hackwork (professional work done according to formula)

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

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

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

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

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

working class; proletariat; labour; labor

Context example:

there is a shortage of skilled labor in this field

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

class; social class; socio-economic class (people having the same social or economic 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"):

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

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

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

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

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

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)

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

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

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)

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:

trade union movement; labor movement; labor

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)

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

Labor Party; Labour Party; Labour; Labor

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

party; political party (an organization to gain political power)

Meronyms (members of "Labor"):

Labourite (a member of the British Labour Party)

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; Labor Department; DoL; Labor

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)

Meaning:

Any piece of work that is undertaken or attempted

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

undertaking; task; project; labor

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"):

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)

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

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)

• LABOR (verb)

Meaning:

Strive and make an effort to reach a goal

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

labor; tug; labour; push; drive

Context examples:

She tugged for years to make a decent living / We have to push a little to make the deadline! / She is driving away at her doctoral thesis

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

fight; struggle (make a strenuous or labored effort)

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

Meaning:

Work hard

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

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

Context examples:

She was digging away at her math homework / Lexicographers drudge all day long

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

do work; work (be employed)

Sentence frames:

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

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...):

experience; get; have; receive; undergo (go through (mental or physical states or experiences))

"Labor" entails doing...:

bear; birth; deliver; give birth; have (cause_to_be_born)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s