laboured
UK/ˈleɪ.bəd//ˈleɪ.bɚd/
laboured adjective: expressive of strenuous effort. Also the simple past and past participle of labour.
Adjective
laboured (comparative more laboured, superlative most laboured)
- Expressive of strenuous effort.
- At the end of the marathon, her laboured breathing told us she was exhausted.
- At Par, 150207 is the unit for the 1416 to Newquay. It is quite tatty and lacks tables - but does have plug sockets. It sounds laboured as it leaves, and while it sounds like it's struggling as it tackles Luxulyan, it's not losing time.2026 January 7, 'Mystery Shopper', “Cornish cream - without the jams?”, in RAIL, number 1052, page 48
- Of writing or speech or similar, stilted or not natural due to too much effort being used in the production.
Also used as
laboured is also the simple past and past participle of labour.
Forms of laboured
| comparative | more laboured |
|---|---|
| superlative | most laboured |
| alternative form | labored |
Words formed from laboured
Phrases with laboured
Questions about laboured
- What does laboured mean?
- Laboured means expressive of strenuous effort.
- What part of speech is laboured?
- Laboured is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce laboured?
- Laboured is pronounced /ˈleɪ.bɚd/ (US).
Words near laboured in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: laboured (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-laboured.ogg.
Cite this entry: “laboured.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/laboured. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.