laborious
laborious — adjective
1. A laborious task or activity is one that takes a long time and a great deal of p
A laborious task or activity is one that takes a long time and a great deal of physical or mental energy to complete — often making you feel exhausted or frustrated.
The research involved the laborious process of checking every historical document by hand.
collocation: laborious process
Alessia found the laborious task of sorting old files both tiring and boring.
pattern: find + object + laborious + noun
Cleaning the sixteenth-century painting was a laborious job that took the team over three weeks.
Building the stone wall by hand proved to be a slow and laborious effort.
Haruto spent a laborious afternoon moving heavy boxes from the basement to the truck.
- arduous
More formal than laborious; strongly suggests sustained physical or mental struggle, often over a long period (e.g. an arduous journey across the mountains)
- strenuous
Focuses on the high level of active physical or mental energy needed (e.g. strenuous exercise, strenuous objections)
- painstaking
Neutral or slightly positive; highlights careful, thorough attention to detail rather than difficulty or exhaustion (e.g. painstaking research)
- tiresome
Emphasises the boredom or frustration caused by a task that feels too long or repetitive, rather than the physical effort
- effortless
Describes something that seems to require no hard work at all
- simple
Describes something easy to do or understand, involving little time or complexity