Arduous

//ˈɑː.djuː.əs// adj

adj ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Needing or using up much energy; testing powers of endurance.

    "The movement towards a peaceful settlement has been a long and arduous political struggle."

  2. 2
    burning; ardent obsolete

    "1805-1814, Dante, Henry Francis Cary (translator), The Divine Comedy Where flames the arduous Spirit of Isidore."

  3. 3
    Difficult or exhausting to traverse.

    "Beyond the river, an arduous slope rises 3286 feet in 13 miles."

Adjective
  1. 1
    difficult to accomplish; demanding considerable mental effort and skill wordnet
  2. 2
    characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion; especially physical effort wordnet
  3. 3
    taxing to the utmost; testing powers of endurance wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
backbreakingburdensomedifficultabruptabstrusebackbreaking

Example

More examples

"She went through a long and arduous vocational course."

Etymology

From Latin arduus (“lofty, high, steep, hard to reach, difficult, laborious”), akin to Irish ard (“high”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.