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Glite Dictionary
💪 A tough job 👷 A hard worker
backbreaker

backbreaker

7.5
A person who does very hard physical work, for example in mines
  • noun
  • /ˈbækˌbreɪkər/
translation icon : trabajador manual
  • Working on the farm turned him into a backbreaker, as he spent all day hauling bales of hay.

Examples

  • As a backbreaker, she was used to the tough demands of manual labor in the warehouse.

  • After a long day of construction, he felt like a true backbreaker from all the heavy lifting.

  • - The backbreaker.

    Any Given Sunday (1999)

  • Cesaro with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker.

    Blog text (28)

Synonyms

roustabout
vsbackbreaker
2 9.9

A person who does hard, simple physical work, often on ships or oil fields

focuses on extreme physical effort across jobs rather than site-specific unskilled tasks
manual laborer
vsbackbreaker
  • US
1 3.0

A person who does hard work using their hands

involves work with extreme physical difficulty beyond ordinary manual effort
tucker
vsbackbreaker
  • Archaic
8.6

A person who works very hard at physical jobs

performs work of extreme physical difficulty and severe strain

Antonyms

slacker
  • Offensive
33 4.6

A person who avoids work and often does very little

idler
  • Offensive
2 7.0

A person who avoids work and does very little

How Physically Demanding

backbreaker
7.5
manual laborer
  • US
1 3.0
laborer
  • US
68 1.0
worker
600 1.0

Surface Forms

backbreaker singular
backbreakers plural

Morphology

backbreaker = back + breaker (transparent) = back + break + er

Formed as back + breaker (breaker = break + -er); the figurative sense 'one who breaks backs' (i.e., does very hard physical work) is directly inferable from the components.

Etymology

The word backbreaker comes from the two simple parts back and break, which gives the strong image of work that would 'break your back'. That's why backbreaker is used for a person who does very hard, physical work.