What does moil mean?
Moil is an uncommon word for hard, often unpleasant labor. As a verb, it describes continuing to work with difficulty, fatigue, or tedious effort: a person might toil or moil at a demanding job, a difficult repair, or an exhausting physical task. As a noun, it refers to that labor itself, particularly when the work is tiresome, troublesome, or unpleasant. The word often carries a more severe and dramatic implication than work or toil, suggesting exertion without pleasure or ease. Moil appears chiefly in formal, literary, historical, and occasionally poetic writing rather than everyday conversation. Its older associations with mud and dirty work eventually gave way to its modern sense of grinding hardship, making it a vivid choice when describing monotonous or punishing effort. Although not common today, moil remains useful in elevated prose because it compresses the ideas of strenuous labor, difficulty, and weariness into a single forceful word.
To work hard or laboriously, especially at a tiring or troublesome task.
"They moiled for hours to clear the blocked road."
Relatively uncommon and literary; it normally implies difficulty, fatigue, or unpleasant effort.
Arduous, troublesome, or unpleasant work; toil.
"The endless moil of maintaining the old farm was finally rewarded by a good harvest."
Usually singular in modern use and strongest in formal or literary contexts.
The plural is grammatically possible but rare in modern usage.
"Few people escape the moils of ordinary life."
Once associated with mud and dirty work, moil became a literary word for labor that leaves you worn out.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does moil come from?
The word passed into English through Middle English from Old French, where related forms referred to making something dirty or muddy. Its older associations with muck and dirty work developed into the figurative sense of arduous or unpleasant labor. The word is also connected with the broader Latin family associated with grinding or crushing, represented in English by forms such as mill and molar.
Related word forms
How moil is actually used
Moil is now relatively uncommon and has a distinctly literary or archaic flavor. It often conveys hardship, drudgery, or exertion more strongly than the neutral word work.
Easily confused with moil
Moil means to labor or troublesome toil, whereas a mole is an animal, a skin blemish, or a unit of chemical quantity.