Synonyms for arduous
ˈɑr dʒu əs; esp. Brit. ˈɑr dyu-ar·du·ous

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:3.0 / 1 vote

1. arduous

   Arduous (Latin arduus, steep) signifies primarily so steep and lofty as to be difficult of ascent, and hence applies to that which involves great and sustained exertion and ordinarily for a lofty aim; great learning can only be won by arduous toil. Hard applies to anything that resists our endeavors as a scarcely penetrable mass resists our physical force. Anything is hard that involves tax and strain whether of the physical or mental powers. Difficult is not used of that which merely taxes physical force; a dead lift is called hard rather than difficult; breaking stone on the road would be called hard rather than difficult work; that is difficult which involves skill, sagacity, or address, with or without a considerable expenditure of physical force; a geometrical problem may be difficult to solve, a tangled skein to unravel; a mountain difficult to ascend. Hard may be active or passive; a thing may be hard to do or hard to bear. Arduous is always active. That which is laborious or toilsome simply requires the steady application of labor or toil till accomplished; toilsome is the stronger word. That which is onerous (Latin onus, a burden) is mentally burdensome or oppressive. Responsibility may be onerous even when it involves no special exertion.

   Synonyms:
   difficult, exhausting, hard, laborious, onerous, severe, toilsome, trying

   Antonyms:
   easy, facile, light, pleasant, slight, trifling, trivial

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. arduous

   Synonyms:
   difficult, hard, lofty, onerous, laborious, steep, precipitous, ant: easy, practicable, unlaborious, light, trivial

   Antonyms:
   easy, practicable, unlaborious, light, trivial

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. arduous, backbreaking, grueling, gruelling, hard, heavy, laborious, operose, punishing, toilsomeadjective

   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"

   Synonyms:
   backbreaking, sullen, ponderous, laborious, overweight, toilsome, intemperate, sound, wakeless, dense, grueling, with child(p), threatening, grave, straining, severe, cloggy, lumbering, large(p), great(p), clayey, enceinte, voiceless, grievous, tough, fleshy, weighed down, hard, weighty, unvoiced, gruelling, expectant, concentrated, lowering, surd, heavy(a), sonorous, impenetrable, operose, strenuous, heavy, heavy(p), big(a), labored, profound, difficult, laboured, punishing, strong, gravid, big(p), leaden, knockout

   Antonyms:
   effortless, easy

2. arduous, straining, strenuousadjective

   taxing to the utmost; testing powers of endurance

   "his final, straining burst of speed"; "a strenuous task"; "your willingness after these six arduous days to remain here"- F.D.Roosevelt

   Synonyms:
   toilsome, heavy, strenuous, laborious, punishing, hard, operose, grueling, backbreaking, straining, gruelling

   Antonyms:
   effortless, easy

3. arduousadjective

   difficult to accomplish; demanding considerable mental effort and skill

   "the arduous work of preparing a dictionary"

   Synonyms:
   toilsome, heavy, strenuous, laborious, punishing, hard, operose, grueling, backbreaking, straining, gruelling

   Antonyms:
   easy, effortless

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. arduousadjective

   Synonyms:
   steep, high, lofty, uphill

2. arduousadjective

   Synonyms:
   hard, difficult, laborious, onerous, troublesome, herculean, toilsome, tiresome, wearisome, fatiguing, beset with difficulties, full of difficulties

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. arduousadjective

   Synonyms:
   onerous, difficult, laborious, wearisome

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "arduous":

   difficult, painstaking, hard, laborious, daunting, strenuous, formidable, challenging, tough, onerous, herculean, demanding, uphill, heavy, painful, hardship

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How to use arduous in a sentence?

1. Socrates:

   Regard your good name as the richest jewel you can possibly be possessed of - for credit is like fire; when once you have kindled it you may easily preserve it, but if you once extinguish it, you will find it an arduous task to rekindle it again. The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.

2. Ling Chengxing:

   Tobacco control is long term, complex and arduous work, and one-sided, absolutist and expansionist tendencies should be carefully avoided.

3. George Sand:

   It is sad, no doubt, to exhaust one's strength and one's days in cleaving the bosom of this jealous earth, which compels us to wring from it the treasures of its fertility, when a bit of the blackest and coarsest bread is, at the end of the day's work, the sole recompense and the sole profit attaching to so arduous a toil.

4. Jim Ritterbusch:

   Predicting short-term price swings has become extremely difficult given the arduous process of predicting the impact of the Delta variant on forward global oil demand, particularly in countries such as China where data is much less transparent than that of the U.S..

5. Ralph Waldo Emerson:

   What I must do is all that concerns me. This rule, equally arduous in actual and intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is harder because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it.