arduous
Americanadjective
-
requiring great exertion; laborious; difficult.
an arduous undertaking.
- Synonyms:
- exhausting, burdensome, wearisome, onerous, toilsome, hard
- Antonyms:
- easy
-
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.
adjective
-
requiring great physical or mental effort; difficult to accomplish; strenuous
-
hard to endure; harsh
arduous conditions
-
hard to overcome or surmount; steep or difficult
an arduous track
Other Word Forms
- arduously adverb
- arduousness noun
- superarduous adjective
- superarduously adverb
- superarduousness noun
- unarduous adjective
- unarduously adverb
- unarduousness noun
Etymology
Origin of arduous
First recorded in 1530–40; from Latin arduus “erect, laborious, steep”
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.
It is an arduous sequence, one to push them to their limit.
From BBC
Abandoning a cult is relatively easy compared to unplugging from a hive; although deprogramming can be an arduous process, a hive mind hollows out everything but our skins.
From Salon
They converse through a language translation app, which makes their arduous task all the more complicated — and hilarious.
From Los Angeles Times
Mr Alexander said he then made "a long and arduous journey" before arriving in the UK in 2023.
From BBC
Because it’s such an arduous effort for Newsom to read, what he does read is emblazoned on his mind in seeming perpetuity.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
