<p><strong>Noun</strong></p><ul><li>a state of pain, distress, or grief; misery: They sympathized with us in our affliction.</li><li>a cause of mental or bodily pain, as sickness, loss, calamity, or persecution.</li><li>the body of persons engaged in such activity, especially those working for wages.</li><li>physical or mental work, especially of a hard or fatiguing kind; toil.</li><li>a job or task done or to be done.</li><li>the physical effort and periodic uterine contractions of childbirth.</li><li>the interval from the onset of these contractions to childbirth.</li></ul>