gruelling

gruelling — adjective

1. so difficult and demanding that it drains your energy and leaves you completely

1.形容詞B2
釋義

so difficult and demanding that it drains your energy and leaves you completely exhausted.

例句

Yara completed the gruelling marathon despite a knee injury.

collocation: gruelling + marathon (endurance event)

The students faced a gruelling set of exams that lasted two weeks.

collocation: gruelling + exams (sustained mental effort)

同義詞
  • exhausting

    more general and common; gruelling adds the idea of sustained difficulty over time

  • arduous

    more formal, often describes physically challenging journeys or tasks

  • punishing

    more informal, emphasises the harshness or severity of the experience

  • backbreaking

    informal, specifically for heavy physical labour

反義詞
  • easy

    general opposite; requires little effort

  • undemanding

    not requiring much energy or effort

  • effortless

    seeming to need no effort at all

文法句型

gruelling + noun

be + gruelling

用法筆記

Commonly paired with nouns that describe prolonged physical or mental effort, such as 'journey,' 'race,' 'training,' 'workout,' 'exam,' or 'negotiations.' Can be used before a noun (a gruelling task) or after a linking verb (the task was gruelling).

常見錯誤

❌I had a gruelling day at work because I had three meetings.
✅I had a gruelling day at work because I had to review four hundred files before the deadline.
💡'gruelling' is too strong for ordinary tiredness; it should describe something close to exhaustion.
❌The maths quiz was gruelling.
✅The final exam was gruelling
💡three hours of complex problems with no break.' — Use 'gruelling' for sustained, severe difficulty, not for short, routine tasks.