/ tɔɪlz; NAmE / noun
[ pl. ] ( formal or literary ) if you are caught in the toils of an unpleasant feeling or situation, you cannot escape from it
SYN snare
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WORD ORIGIN
early 16th cent. (denoting a net into which a hunted animal is driven): plural of toil , from Old French toile net, trap, from Latin tela web.