SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
labored
adjective
Showing obvious effort or strain instead of ease or naturalness.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Showing effort or strain
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topLabored humor feels forced; labored movement or breathing visibly requires effort.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See labored in use
The labored joke interrupted an otherwise lively conversation.
In another recording, Tessa read an announcement in a monotone, keeping almost the same pitch from beginning to end. The wording sounded stilted because ordinary invitations had been replaced with unnaturally formal phrases. Her attempt to fit a long sentence into one breath also made the delivery labored.
Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.
Synonym reference scope and sources
The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.
How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license