Adjacent Words

Laborious definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

LABO'RIOUS, a. [L. laboriosus.]
1. Using exertion; employing labor; diligent in work or service; assiduous; used of persons; as a laborious husbandman or mechanic; a laborious minister or pastor.
2. Requiring labor; toilsome; tiresome; not easy; as laborious duties or services.
3. Requiring labor, exertion, perseverance or sacrifices.
Dost thou love watchings, abstinence or toil, laborious virtues all? Learn these from Cato.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion; especially physical effort; "worked their arduous way up the mining valley"; "a grueling campaign"; "hard labor"; "heavy work"; "heavy going"; "spent many laborious hours on the project"; "set a punishing pace" [syn: arduous, backbreaking, grueling, gruelling, hard, heavy, laborious, operose, punishing, toilsome]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Date: 14th century 1. devoted to labor ; industrious 2. involving or characterized by hard or toilsome effort ; labored • laboriously adverb • laboriousness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 needing hard work or toil (a laborious task). 2 (esp. of literary style) showing signs of toil; pedestrian; not fluent. Derivatives: laboriously adv. laboriousness n. Etymology: ME f. OF laborieus f. L laboriosus (as LABOUR)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Laborious La*bo"ri*ous, a. [L. laboriosus,fr. labor labor: cf. F. laborieux.] 1. Requiring labor, perseverance, or sacrifices; toilsome; tiresome. Dost thou love watchings, abstinence, or toil, Laborious virtues all ? Learn these from Cato. --Addison. 2. Devoted to labor; diligent; industrious; as, a laborious mechanic. -- La*bo"ri*ous*ly, adv. -- La*bo"ri*ous*ness, n.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

If you describe a task or job as laborious, you mean that it takes a lot of time and effort. Keeping the garden tidy all year round can be a laborious task. ADJ • laboriously ...the embroidery she'd worked on so laboriously during the long winter nights. ADV: ADV with v

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Industrious, sedulous, assiduous, toiling, hard-working, painstaking. See diligent. 2. Difficult, arduous, onerous, toilsome, tiresome, wearisome, fatiguing, irksome, hard, Herculean.

Moby Thesaurus

Herculean, abstruse, ardent, arduous, assiduous, backbreaking, brutal, burdensome, careful, complex, critical, crushing, delicate, demanding, detailed, determined, difficile, difficult, diligent, dogged, effortful, energetic, exacting, exhausting, exhaustive, fatiguing, fervent, forced, formidable, grueling, hairy, hard, hard-earned, hard-fought, hard-working, hardworking, heavy, hefty, indefatigable, industrious, intricate, jawbreaking, killing, knotted, knotty, labored, mean, never idle, no picnic, not easy, obdurate, obstinate, onerous, operose, oppressive, overworked, painful, painstaking, persevering, persistent, ponderous, punishing, relentless, rigorous, rough, rugged, scrupulous, sedulous, set with thorns, severe, sleepless, spiny, steadfast, steady, steep, stiff, strained, strenuous, stubborn, taxing, thorny, thorough, ticklish, tireless, tiring, toilsome, tough, tricky, troublesome, unflagging, unrelenting, unremitting, unsleeping, unsparing, untiring, unwavering, unwearied, uphill, vehement, wearisome, wearying, wicked, zealous