arduous
Involving or requiring strenuous effort; difficult and tiring
Examples
In a meeting
“Migrating all our data to the new system will be an arduous process.”
Over coffee
“Training for a marathon is arduous, but totally worth it.”
Why this word
difficult
arduous emphasizes demanding physical or mental effort, difficult is general and less vivid
hard
hard is vague and informal, arduous specifically means requiring strenuous, sustained effort
challenging
challenging can be positive or mild, arduous emphasizes exhausting, laborious difficulty
Usage tip
Use to emphasize both difficulty and physical or mental exhaustion involved
Etymology
Latin 'arduus' (steep, difficult)
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