manual labour
noun
Simple meaning
Work done by hand or using basic tools rather than by machines.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
manyoouhllaybowrSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈmænjuəlˈleɪbaʊɹ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Commonwealth spellingCanada
Work done by hand or using basic tools rather than by machines; usually physically demanding but (sometimes derogatory) unskilled labor.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: (Commonwealth spelling, Canada) Work done by hand or using basic tools rather than by machines; usually physically demanding but (sometimes derogatory) unskilled labor.
Used this way, manual labour is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.