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definitions

backbreaking

or back-break·ing

[bak-brey-king]
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR backbreaking ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

demanding great effort, endurance, etc.; exhausting: a backbreaking job.

Origin of backbreaking

First recorded in 1780–90; back1 + break + -ing2
Related formsback·break·er, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for backbreaker

onerous, stringent, tough, taxing, hard, pressing, troublesome, exhausting, strict, critical, ambitious, exacting, trying, difficult, crucial, problematic, arduous, demanding, severe, strenuous

Examples from the Web for backbreaker

Contemporary Examples of backbreaker

  • Although he is not on trial for the video, it was the backbreaker in the court of public opinion.

    The Daily Beast logo
    John Galliano in the Courtroom

    Tracy McNicoll

    June 23, 2011

Historical Examples of backbreaker

  • I jerked and rolled in a movement calculated to throw him to the ground face down, the motion ending in a backbreaker hold.

    The Old Martians

    Roger Phillips Graham

British Dictionary definitions for backbreaker

backbreaker

noun

a wrestling hold in which a wrestler uses his knee or shoulder as a fulcrum to bend his opponent's body backwards
informal an extremely arduous task

backbreaking

adjective

demanding great effort; exhausting
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012