fardels

Meanings

1. 1nounpluralarchaicliterary

   Heavy loads or bundles that a person carries on the back.

   Grammar: Almost always plural; the singular 'fardel' exists but is very rare today.

   Patterns

   • bear fardels
   • carry fardels

   The travelers trudged up the hill with their fardels of cloth and tools.

   In old paintings, peasants are shown bent beneath their fardels.

2. 2nounpluralarchaicliteraryfigurative

   The troubles and hardships that weigh a person down in life.

   Grammar: Used figuratively, often in literary or poetic writing about suffering.

   Patterns

   • bear the fardels of something
   • the fardels of life

   Who would bear the fardels of a long and thankless struggle?

   She spoke of the fardels of old age with quiet dignity.

Word forms

Common combinations

bear fardels

Few would choose to bear such fardels alone.

heavy fardels

The porters set down their heavy fardels and rested.

the fardels of life

The poem compares the fardels of life to stones in a sack.

Synonyms and how they differ

burden

The everyday word for a heavy load or a troubling duty; use it in normal speech instead of 'fardels'.

load

Simply something carried; it lacks the literary, sorrowful tone that 'fardels' carries.

hardship

Refers only to the figurative sense of suffering, not to physical bundles.

Opposites

Word family

fardel noun

The rare singular form, meaning one bundle or burden.

Commonly confused: fardels or fardel?

Practice

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