herculean
Americanadjective
-
requiring the great strength of a Hercules; very hard to perform.
Digging the tunnel was a herculean task.
- Synonyms:
- formidable, onerous, arduous, prodigious
-
having enormous strength, courage, or size.
-
(initial capital letter) of or relating to Hercules or his labors.
adjective
-
requiring tremendous effort, strength, etc
a herculean task
-
(sometimes capital) resembling Hercules in strength, courage, etc
Etymology
Origin of herculean
1590–1600; < Latin Hercule ( us ) of, belonging to Hercules + -an
Explanation
Things that take great strength — like throwing a boulder or finishing math homework — are sometimes called herculean in honor of Herculues, the hero from Greek mythology. Just like Thursday comes from the Scandinavian god Thor, the Greek hero Hercules gave us this word. Herculean was first used to describe Hercules himself, and later applied to anyone or anything who showed similar strength. Herculean can be used in several ways. You can make a herculean effort to accomplish a herculean task. Any job that is a piece of cake — an easy job that that anyone could do — is totally non-herculean. Save this word for jobs that really deserve the label.
Vocabulary lists containing herculean
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "H"
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Reading: Literature - Mythology - Introductory
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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.
Two senators earmarked $85 million for the move to Houston—but safely shipping an 86-ton shuttle orbiter cross-country could prove a herculean feat.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 4, 2026
Health authorities in the region said a "genuinely herculean effort" was needed to prepare the site, where the passengers from the MV Hondius will be monitored before they can be released to isolate at home.
From BBC ● May 11, 2026
Santosh Janardhan, Meta’s head of infrastructure, said his company’s goal is “to deliver personal superintelligence to billions of people,” a herculean task that requires immense amounts of power, land and hardware.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 26, 2026
On Friday, SpaceX asked U.S. regulators for approval to launch up to 1 million satellites as orbital data centers, which would be a herculean effort.
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 2, 2026
Bob Rutherford, who was sitting next to him in the booth and spent his days in the herculean task of trying to sell real estate in Odessa, felt the same stirrings.
From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger
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.
