drudgery

American  

[druhj-uh-ree] / ˈdrʌdʒ ə ri /

noun

plural

drudgeries

1. menial, distasteful, dull, or hard work.

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drudgery British  

/ ˈdrʌdʒərɪ /

noun

1. hard, menial, and monotonous work

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Usage

What are other ways to say drudgery?

Drudgery refers to menial, distasteful, or hard work. How is drudgery different from work, labor, or toil? Find out on Thesaurus.com.

Etymology

Origin of drudgery

First recorded in 1540–50; drudge + -ery

Explanation

If you’ve ever had to do the laundry, wash the dishes, make the meals, change the bedding, vacuum the house, and clean the bathrooms day after day, you’ve experienced drudgery. Drudgery is hard, mindless, backbreaking work. When you say the word drudgery, you can almost feel the hard, plodding work that it describes. You have to put some effort into saying the dr- sound. Then, as soon as you get through the breathy -u-, you’ve got two more hard sounds in -dg- and -er- before you get another break with the final vowel sound. Just as you might drag yourself doing those repetitive, grinding chores, you have to drag your way through pronouncing the word.

Example Sentences

Urged by despair and by hope, what can Drudgery do, but rise, as predicted, and produce the General Overturn?

From The French Revolution by Carlyle, Thomas

Drudgery is plodding, irksome, and often menial work.

From English Synonyms and Antonyms With Notes on the Correct Use of Prepositions by Fernald, James Champlin

Dull Drudgery, driven on, by clerks with the cold dastard spurt of their pen, has been driven—into a Communion of Drudges!

From The French Revolution by Carlyle, Thomas

Drudgery, he tells us, is the secret of all culture.

From Making the Most of Life by Miller, J. R. (James Russell)

All this vile Drudgery will I submit to for his sake, &c.

From Reflections on Dr. Swift's Letter to Harley (1712) and The British Academy (1712) by Landa, Louis A.