You searched for: “travails”
travail (s) (noun), travails (pl)
1. Work or problems which are unpleasant, difficult, or demanding: The travail of childbirth, sometimes with hours of labor pains for the mother, involves a lot of agony and exertion.
2. Etymology: from Latin tripaliare, "to torture"; from trepalium, "instrument of torture" probably from Latin tripalis, "having three stakes"; from tria, "three" + palus, "stake".
Distress encountered when striving to achieve something.
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This entry is located in the following unit: English Words in Action, Group T (page 5)