arduous
[ahr-joo-uh s or, esp. British, ahr-dyoo-]
- requiring great exertion; laborious; difficult: an arduous undertaking.
- requiring or using much energy and vigor; strenuous: making an arduous effort.
- hard to climb; steep: an arduous path up the hill.
- hard to endure; full of hardships; severe: an arduous winter.
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Origin of arduous
Synonyms
See more synonyms for arduous on Thesaurus.com1. hard, toilsome, onerous, wearisome, burdensome, exhausting.
Antonyms
1. easy.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for arduous
Contemporary Examples
It's slow and arduous and takes great concentration under the best of circumstances.
Even more striking are the courteous and collegial manners displayed, even during the arduous filibuster in the Senate.
Once the budget has been creatively handled, a director still faces the arduous task of casting.
The road to the Olympics is already long and arduous enough.
His successors will face the arduous task of fleshing out the content of this “pivot.”
Historical Examples
Every thought was bent to attain the end, no labour was deemed to arduous.
The Grand Old ManRichard B. Cook
How arduous and delicate they were may be readily understood.
The Works of Whittier, Volume VII (of VII)John Greenleaf Whittier
In the Winter of 1841, his duties were most trying and arduous.
Cleveland Past and PresentMaurice Joblin
It is I, not she, at this rate, that must fail in the arduous trial.
Clarissa, Volume 3 (of 9)Samuel Richardson
Engage not in so arduous and important an enterprise immaturely.
ImogenWilliam Godwin
arduous
- requiring great physical or mental effort; difficult to accomplish; strenuous
- hard to endure; harsharduous conditions
- hard to overcome or surmount; steep or difficultan arduous track
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Word Origin
C16: from Latin arduus steep, difficult
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for arduous
adj.
1530s, "hard to accomplish, difficult to do," from Latin arduus "high, steep," also figuratively, "difficult," from PIE root *eredh- "to grow, high" (see ortho-). Literal sense of "high, steep, difficult to climb," attested in English from 1709.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper