How to Use travail in a Sentence

travail

noun
  • They finally succeeded after many months of travail.
  • After all, how many travails can one poor family take?
    — Mia Galuppo, HollywoodReporter, 10 Jan. 2026
  • Its current travails are likely to be a model for the nation too.
    — David A. Graham, The Atlantic, 11 June 2026
  • The travails, however, didn’t end with the hostages’ safe return.
    — Christopher Vourlias, Variety, 12 Jan. 2024
  • Who will miss the slaughterhouses, with their groan of travail that was never easy to bear in any age?
    — Matthew Scully, National Review, 17 Jan. 2021
  • But that wouldn’t explain the travails of Germany‘s Olaf Scholz.
    — David Lauter, Los Angeles Times, 15 Dec. 2023
  • Last week, Schapiro broke a new story about Giuliani’s travails.
    — Jody Rosen, The New Yorker, 5 Nov. 2019
  • But over time, travel and travail split into two different words.
    — James Harbeck, The Week, 23 Feb. 2022
  • Everton will no doubt have ended the game content with a point, given their first-half travails.
    — Patrick Boyland, New York Times, 27 Jan. 2026
  • Perhaps nothing better sums up the travails of the Cubs than Darvish.
    — Jon Tayler, SI.com, 5 Sep. 2019
  • So where do Tesla’s travails leave Eichin and her Cybertruck?
    — Simon Willis, Fortune, 27 July 2023
  • Both grew up in the neighborhood and have lived through MacArthur Park’s travails.
    — Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 22 Jan. 2026
  • The third phase is three capes Craig created to symbolize friends’ travails.
    — Susan Dunne, courant.com, 28 Apr. 2018
  • But that wouldn’t explain the travails of Germany’s Olaf Scholz.
    — David Lauter, Los Angeles Times, 17 Dec. 2023
  • After the travails of the last decade, however, that era of hope feels like a distant memory.
    — Ben Wedeman, CNN Money, 30 Nov. 2025
  • Porkchop has persevered through her travails.
    — Lila Seidman, Los Angeles Times, 28 Jan. 2026
  • Calvert-Lewin’s travails with Everton are laid bare in that final column.
    — Beren Cross, New York Times, 26 Jan. 2026
  • Carolyn was able to capture the honor and travail of spending 24/7 with young children so well.
    — Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 17 May 2022
  • This must rank as one of the earliest examples of the travails of seeking to do business with China.
    — Kerry Brown, Time, 31 Oct. 2025
  • For all of its own recent travails, the PSOE has never been as down on its luck as many of its peers are.
    — Omar G. Encarnación, The New York Review of Books, 28 May 2019
  • Buffalo pulled out a 66-63 win in the game, but that was only the start of the Eagles’ travails.
    — Jeff Kirik, Detroit Free Press, 21 Jan. 2020
  • Welles’s success in bringing the tragedy of Christophe as the Haitian Macbeth to the stage was not without its own travails.
    — Marlene L. Daut september 22, Literary Hub, 22 Sep. 2025
  • But that doesn’t save her from experiencing many terrors, or her doubting mother Laras from still worse travails.
    — Dennis Harvey, Variety, 6 Aug. 2025
  • Consider the recent travails of bride-to-be Lauren Johnson.
    — Editorial Board, Washington Post, 13 Feb. 2026
  • So when Johnson shared with Duncan his prom suit travails, Duncan went to Lipstein for help.
    — Elizabeth Wellington, Philly.com, 18 May 2018
  • His Temple brothers have stayed close, many in frequent contact through his travails, and words from Chaney keep resurfacing.
    — Mike Jensen, Philly.com, 24 May 2018
  • Kale Williams and his colleagues used the story of a polar bear's birth and travails as a vehicle to tell larger stories about climate change.
    — The Oregonian/oregonlive, OregonLive.com, 28 Apr. 2018
  • The Bergmans’ lyrics convey 'Yentl’s' travails with wisdom, humor, and compassion.
    — Brenton Blanchet, Peoplemag, 8 Sep. 2023
  • To be fair, the book is barely mentioned after the setup, and the focus shifts to the characters’ romantic travails and the gluey life lessons to be learned from them.
    — Ty Burr, BostonGlobe.com, 17 May 2018
  • And the increase in suicides in Massachusetts has been blamed on the travails of middle-aged men, who account for the largest number of suicide deaths.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 8 June 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'travail.' 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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