How to Use labor in a Sentence

labor

1 of 3 noun
  • A day's labor should get the job done.
  • The cost of repairing the car includes parts and labor.
  • He rested from his labors.
  • She began to have labor pains this morning.
  • She has been in labor for several hours.
  • Getting the job done will require many hours of difficult labor.
  • The proposed new law is opposed by organized labor.
  • She had a difficult labor.
  • She went into labor this morning.
  • All this labor—all of it legal—paid off.
    — Kapil Komireddi, New Yorker, 10 Apr. 2026
  • How much labor is used to pack, store and ship boxes?
    — Ken Bowles, Forbes.com, 28 Jan. 2026
  • The labor movements of the past fought for more than wages.
    — Scott Hutcheson, Forbes.com, 1 Sep. 2025
  • To him, this is a labor of hope and a labor of grief.
    — Luca Evans, Denver Post, 18 Apr. 2026
  • Time to enjoy the fruits of your labor.
    — Juhi Wadia, PC Magazine, 1 Apr. 2026
  • Most area labor lawyers felt there was no basis for the claims.
    — Drew Davison, star-telegram, 27 Oct. 2017
  • Did any labor lawyers who read this just spit out their coffee?
    — Evan Grant, Dallas Morning News, 26 Feb. 2026
  • There's a lot to be done, and a lot of it is free, unpaid labor.
    — Amanda Mitchell, Marie Claire, 25 Jan. 2019
  • In this case, that’s the labor movement.
    — Darcie Moran, Freep.com, 2 Sep. 2025
  • Sunday proved more labor than love.
    — Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 20 Apr. 2026
  • Does this give baseball labor peace?
    — Evan Grant, Dallas Morning News, 26 Feb. 2026
  • The owner, smelling free labor, agreed.
    — Sofía Pereda, USA Today, 13 Oct. 2025
  • Some are ready to retire and enjoy the fruits of their labor.
    — Bill Keen, Forbes, 3 Aug. 2022
  • Management wants more of the pie and labor wants a fair split.
    — Evan Grant, Dallas Morning News, 26 Feb. 2026
  • To make matters worse, the virus has shrunk the available labor pool.
    — Fortune, 10 Feb. 2020
  • If our labor is replaced, will anyone miss us?
    — Jay Caspian Kang, New Yorker, 24 Oct. 2025
  • The machine changed who controlled labor and the terms on which it was done.
    — Christopher Marquis, Time, 30 May 2026
  • If states do relax their child labor laws there are some safeguards still in place.
    — Joel Mathis, The Week, 8 Apr. 2023
  • At first, the back-breaking labor almost broke the young man from the city.
    — Michael Sheridan, Vanity Fair, 8 Apr. 2026
  • But in both cases labor-power is sold.
    — Literary Hub, 22 Sep. 2025
  • We are wired not just to work, but to make meaning through the act of labor itself.
    — Scott Hutcheson, Forbes.com, 1 Sep. 2025

labor

2 of 3 verb
  • The truck labored up the hill.
  • We should honor those who labored so long to make the truth known.
  • I have been laboring through this book for months.
  • Workers labored in the vineyard.
  • She has a tendency to labor the obvious.
  • She has labored in vain to convince them to accept her proposal.
  • He labored for several years as a miner.
  • Some of the works would be labored over and over and over again.
    — Lisa Deaderick, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 Aug. 2025
  • The Bears labored much of the rest of the evening.
    — Jeff Faraudo, Mercury News, 18 Oct. 2025
  • The pitchers labored in the first three months that taxed the bullpen.
    — Mark Gonzales, chicagotribune.com, 11 Sep. 2017
  • Some songs are labored over for days and don’t even make the album.
    — Julyssa Lopez, Rolling Stone, 11 Mar. 2024
  • For those who labor, for those do the work, the seed is planted.
    — Ellen McGirt, Fortune, 4 Sep. 2020
  • The curly hair on their chests rose and fell with their labored breathing.
    — Sandra Sidi, The Atlantic, 6 Sep. 2019
  • Stout labored over that large-scale choral work for more than 20 years.
    — John Von Rhein, chicagotribune.com, 3 Feb. 2018
  • Workers labored around the clock to pump water out of the cave.
    — Kaitlyn Schallhorn, Fox News, 10 July 2018
  • Irish workers also labored in rail yards and mines in the area.
    — Paula Kane, The Conversation, 13 Mar. 2026
  • Her breathing was shallow and labored, and her skin was pale, moist and hot.
    — Tonya Alanez, sun-sentinel.com, 18 Sep. 2019
  • Low-wage workers must labor for about 14 hours to fill up their tank.
    — Nicole Goodkind, CNN, 23 June 2022
  • Back in the car, Bleu curled on his lap in a daze, his breathing labored.
    — Mike Baker, New York Times, 4 Feb. 2020
  • Workers also labored around the clock to pump water out of the cave.
    — Kaitlyn Schallhorn, Fox News, 18 July 2018
  • Often kids are more in tune with what the laboring person needs than some adults.
    — Emma Baty, Redbook, 9 June 2017
  • Hammond labored 50 hours over a two week span to create her project.
    — R. Daniel Foster, Forbes.com, 19 Sep. 2025
  • Like the women who labor here, the mundu chile is sturdy, tough and resilient.
    — Kamala Thiagarajan, NPR, 19 Apr. 2026
  • Hackett labored near where the marker is displayed on the square.
    — Stacy Ryburn, Arkansas Online, 17 June 2023
  • Easy layers and a versatile length mean that you won't be labored down with styling time.
    — Kaitlyn Yarborough, Southern Living, 9 Jan. 2024
  • Still, Boyd was forced to labor through 30 pitches to get three outs.
    — Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press, 9 June 2021
  • Freeland labored at times, but also racked up five strikeouts.
    — Corey Masisak, Denver Post, 19 Aug. 2025
  • In many years on dairy farms, the worker often labored for 10 hours with no breaks.
    — Melissa Gomez, Los Angeles Times, 17 Apr. 2026
  • Paul seemed to be laboring after opening the fourth quarter with a jump shot.
    — Jonathan Feigen, Houston Chronicle, 28 Jan. 2018
  • Queen looks out the window — and sees a crew of black convicts laboring under the gun.
    — Darren Franich, EW.com, 25 Nov. 2019

labor

3 of 3 adjective
  • Maryland used to have a law forcing a post-Labor Day start, but it was overturned.
    — Alix Martichoux, The Hill, 14 Aug. 2025
  • The layoffs are part of a plan announced in February that includes both labor and non-labor reductions.
    — Judith Kohler, Denver Post, 29 Aug. 2025
  • Newmont has said the layoffs are part of a plan announced in February that includes both labor and non-labor reductions.
    — Judith Kohler, Denver Post, 17 Oct. 2025
  • Anticipating a post-Labor Day start date, the plan is to have the second picnic grove in place by year’s end, Corsi said.
    — Ashley MacKin Solomon, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 May 2026
  • Many southern states now open weeks before Labor Day, while some northern states cling to post-Labor Day starts to preserve tourism dollars.
    — Jeanne Allen, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2025
  • Sweeten up your seasonal rotation with post-Labor Day deals on travel pants starting at just $12, below.
    — Olivia Young, Travel + Leisure, 4 Sep. 2025
  • Remember how the nominally pro-labor Biden administration reacted to the threat of a railroad workers’ strike?
    — Literary Hub, 31 Jan. 2026
  • Joe Biden’s efforts to be the most pro-labor president in history didn’t spare him the wrath of young Starbucks employees who accused him of complicity in genocide.
    — George Packer, The Atlantic, 16 Mar. 2026
  • Unlike most shore towns, which become crowded in the summer months and a bit deserted post-Labor Day, Cape May remains calm, yet plenty lively this time of year.
    — Jessica Sulima, Condé Nast Traveler, 4 Oct. 2025
  • And while the controversial color pick might seem boring or limiting to some, rest assured, the white hue isn’t just reserved for 2026 brides and pre-Labor Day summer fits.
    — Morgan Evans, InStyle, 31 Dec. 2025
  • Last Rites launched in the post-Labor Day weekend, which Warner Bros has turned into a rich launch pad for horror films going back to 2017’s It.
    — Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 22 Dec. 2025
  • Another one of our most beloved brands, Brooklinen, is offering 20% off bedding-specific items and 15% off site-wide as part of their pre-Labor Day promos.
    — Audrey Lee, Architectural Digest, 15 Aug. 2025
  • One demonstration began nearly an hour before sunrise outside a housing development underway along Ellsworth Street in Berkeley being built with mostly non-labor workers.
    — Jakob Rodgers, Mercury News, 1 May 2026
  • Caltrain has attempted to implement cost-cutting measures to reduce its overhead costs by pausing new hires, improving crew efficiency, and reducing professional services and other non-labor expenses.
    — Noe Padilla, USA Today, 2 Apr. 2026
  • Matters culminated in a large crowd gathering at Haymarket Square, where several labor activists rose to make pro-labor speeches and pillory the McCormick conflict.
    — Michael Peregrine, Chicago Tribune, 4 May 2026
  • Roughly 45 Chicago Public Schools are expected to participate in civic engagement field trips across the city today, joining an international pro-labor day of protest known as May Day.
    — Chicago Tribune, 1 May 2026
  • Politicians are borrowing Rehmet’s pro-labor messaging Looking toward the March 3 primary, Rottinghaus said this is the first time in a generation that laborers make up a significant part of the ballot from either party.
    — Rachel Royster, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 6 Feb. 2026
  • Selected to succeed Petro in leading the Historic Pact for Colombia party, the candidate promises to continue the president’s pro-labor reforms and continue peace negotiations with armed insurgent groups.
    — Alfie Pannell, Miami Herald, 31 May 2026
  • Precipitating factors included the ongoing movement for an eight-hour workday, a massive May 1 pro-labor march and the previous day’s shooting by police of several workers involved in a strike at the McCormick Reaper Works.
    — Michael Peregrine, Chicago Tribune, 4 May 2026
  • The film emphasizes how Valdez used his artistic abilities to help his childhood friend Cesar Chavez, forming the El Teatro Campesino acting troupe to deliver Chavez’s pro-labor message to farm workers around California.
    — Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 20 Mar. 2026
  • The Teamsters were one of the only major labor unions not to endorse Biden — viewed by many observers as the most pro-labor president in recent history — and later Vice President Kamala Harris during their respective presidential campaigns last year.
    — Talia Soglin, Chicago Tribune, 1 Sep. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'labor.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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