laborious

American  

[luh-bawr-ee-uhs] / ləˈbɔr i əs /

adjective

1. requiring much work, exertion, or perseverance.

   a laborious undertaking.

   Synonyms:

   wearisome, tiresome, hard, difficult, burdensome, onerous, arduous, toilsome

2. characterized by or requiring extreme care and much attention to detail.

   laborious research.

3. characterized by or exhibiting excessive effort, dullness, and lack of spontaneity; labored: labor.

   a strained, laborious plot.

4. given to or diligent in work.

   a careful, laborious craftsman.

   Synonyms:

   painstaking, sedulous, assiduous, industrious, hardworking

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laborious British  

/ ləˈbɔːrɪəs /

adjective

1. involving great exertion or long effort

2. given to working hard

3. (of literary style, etc) not fluent

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Other Word Forms

• laboriously adverb
• laboriousness noun
• quasi-laborious adjective
• superlaborious adjective
• superlaboriousness noun
• unlaborious adjective
• unlaboriousness noun

Etymology

Origin of laborious

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English word from Latin word labōriōsus. See labor, -ious

Example Sentences

As a result, the interaction feels, and actually is, more laborious.

From The Wall Street Journal

This is more laborious, of course, but also more likely to fetch you that bigger paycheck.

From MarketWatch

She wanted to digitise and streamline those laborious tasks into a piece of tech that she can view on her cellphone or computer.

From BBC

I’d love for AI to handle my laborious daily email management.

From The Wall Street Journal

And the treatment can be expensive and laborious, making it impractical for vast swaths of forest.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• arduous
• backbreaking
• burdensome
• onerous
• strenuous
• tiresome