- present participle of tax.
taxing
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of taxing
Explanation
Taxing things are stressful and difficult. Climbing a mountain is taxing, and so is spending an entire day babysitting an unruly toddler. Things that are taxing wear you out, either physically or mentally (or both). You may think of physical jobs like construction work as the most taxing kind of employment, until you realize how emotionally taxing it would be to care for sick patients as a nurse, or how mentally taxing you might find working as an accountant. This adjective comes from the verb tax, which means "to put a strain on."
Vocabulary lists containing taxing
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Fundamentally, what makes a legislature powerful is its control over taxing and spending, the power of the purse.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026
It brought the city in line with other popular European destinations including Amsterdam, Paris and Rome in taxing visitors.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
But the seventh-seeded Serb has a way of defying Father Time and he has had two days to recover on a surface where points are shorter and generally less taxing on the body.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
“This has been an extraordinarily taxing ordeal for her, and she has never wavered while testifying in front of two grand juries and three trial juries over the course of eight years.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
It would be so taxing to manage something similar, she feels fatigued even considering it.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
