- 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.
“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
He’s helped his mom work through every medical decision, cared for her physically during taxing treatments and processed her illness alongside her.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 23, 2026
“It’s in there. That was huge. It was a big momentum swing to get out of that. Unfortunately it’s taxing though; it made him jump up in his pitch count a little bit.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 5, 2026
"Mining lithium from the Earth has proven to be very taxing from an energy and environmental standpoint, so pulling lithium directly from saltwater could be a very important future route," says Guo.
From Science Daily • May 31, 2026
It was an exhausting, emotionally taxing day, and the cases and clients had merged together in my mind on the long drive back to Atlanta.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
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.
