What does "toll" mean?
A fee paid for some liberty or privilege, particularly for the privilege of passing over a bridge or on a highway, or for that of vending goods in a fair, market, etc.
Toll
/təʊl/ name, noun, verb
name, noun, verb ·Common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A fee paid for some liberty or privilege, particularly for the privilege of passing over a bridge or on a highway, or for that of vending goods in a fair, market, etc.
- Grammar: toll is listed as name, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: price, admission, admission fee, allure.
- Useful contrasts: cease, exempt, free.
- Usage evidence: Blindness is responsible for a staggering toll of poor health, suffering, and loss of dignity and diminution in the quality of lives of people worldwide.
How to use "toll"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "toll" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "toll" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "toll" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "toll" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "toll" is acting as name, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "price" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "toll", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A fee paid for some liberty or privilege, particularly for the privilege of passing over a bridge or on a highway, or for that of vending goods in a fair, market, etc.
"Meanwhile, the tolls dispute had gone to the courts, and the E.L.R. was completely successful when, in 1856, the House of Lords awarded it the sum of £30,000 against the L.Y.R. for tolls overcharged."
- 2 The act or sound of ringing a bell, especially slowly, as with a church or cemetery bell.
- 3 value measured by what must be given or done or undergone to obtain something wordnet
- 4 Loss or damage incurred through a disaster.
"The war has taken its toll on the people."
- 5 the sound of a bell being struck wordnet
Show 6 more definitions
- 6 A fee paid by the owner of materials or other goods for processing such goods, as under a tolling agreement.
"toll ore refining; toll manufacturing"
- 7 a fee levied for the use of roads or bridges wordnet
- 8 A fee for using any kind of material processing service. broadly
"We can handle on a toll basis your needs for spray drying, repackaging, crushing and grinding, and dry blending."
- 9 A tollbooth. US
"We will be replacing some manned tolls with high-speed device readers."
- 10 A liberty to buy and sell within the bounds of a manor. UK, obsolete
- 11 A portion of grain taken by a miller as a compensation for grinding. England, obsolete, regional
Verb
- 1 To impose a fee for the use of. transitive
"Once more it is proposed to toll the East River bridges."
- 2 To ring (a bell) slowly and repeatedly. ergative
"Martin tolled the great bell every day."
- 3 To draw; pull; tug; drag. obsolete, transitive
- 4 To take away; to vacate; to annul. obsolete
- 5 simple past and past participle of tell form-of, participle, past
"I done toll you for the last time."
Show 12 more definitions
- 6 ring slowly wordnet
- 7 To levy a toll on (someone or something). ambitransitive
"No Italian priest Shall tithe or toll in our dominions."
- 8 To summon by ringing a bell. transitive
"The ringer tolled the workers back from the fields for vespers."
- 9 To tear in pieces. transitive
- 10 To suspend.
"The statute of limitations defense was tolled as a result of the defendant’s wrongful conduct."
- 11 charge a fee for using wordnet
- 12 To take as a toll. transitive
- 13 To announce by ringing a bell. transitive
"The bells tolled the King’s death."
- 14 To draw; entice; invite; allure. transitive
"Hou many virgins shal she tolle and drawe to þe Lord - "Life of Our Lady""
- 15 To pay a toll or tallage.
"I will buy me a sonne in Law in a faire, and toule for this. Ile none of him."
- 16 To make a sound as if made by a bell. figuratively
"The chaplain's first mention of the name Yossarian! had tolled deep in his memory like a portentous gong."
- 17 To lure with bait; tole (especially, fish and animals). transitive
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname.
Example
"Blindness is responsible for a staggering toll of poor health, suffering, and loss of dignity and diminution in the quality of lives of people worldwide."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "toll"?
Common synonyms include: price, admission, admission fee, allure, anchorage, assess.
How do you use "toll" in a sentence?
Blindness is responsible for a staggering toll of poor health, suffering, and loss of dignity and diminution in the quality of lives of people worldwide.
How do you pronounce "toll"?
Pronounced /təʊl/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English toll, tol, tolle, from Old English toll m or n and toln f (“toll, duty, custom”), from Proto-West Germanic *toll, *tolnu, from Proto-Germanic *tullaz, *tullō (“that which is counted or told, reckoning”), from Proto-Indo-European *del- (“calculation, fraud”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Tol (“toll”), Dutch tol (“toll”), German Zoll (“toll, duty, customs”), Danish told (“toll, duty, tariff”), Swedish tull (“toll, customs”), Icelandic tollur (“toll, customs”). More at tell, tale. Alternate etymology derives Old English toll from Medieval Latin tolōneum, tolōnium, alteration (due to the Germanic forms above) of Latin telōneum, from Ancient Greek τελώνιον (telṓnion, “toll-house”), from τέλος (télos, “tax”).
Etymology 2
Probably the same as Etymology 3. Possibly related to or influenced by toil
Etymology 3
From Middle English tolen, tollen, variation of tullen, tillen (“to draw, allure, entice”), from Old English *tyllan, *tillan (“to pull, draw, attract”) (found in compounds fortyllan (“to seduce, lead astray, draw away from the mark, deceive”) and betyllan, betillan (“to lure, decoy”)), related to Old Frisian tilla (“to lift, raise”), Dutch tillen (“to lift, raise, weigh, buy”), Low German tillen (“to lift, remove”), Swedish dialectal tille (“to take up, appropriate”).
Etymology 4
From Latin tollō (“to lift up”).
Etymology 5
* As an English surname, variant of Towle, Tole. * As a German surname, from the adjective toll, meaning both "wonderful" and "crazy, mad." Also shortened from Bartholomäus. * As a Dutch surname, variant of Tol, sometimes shortened from Van Toll.