backbreaking
- adjective
- /ˈbækˌbrɛkɪŋ/
- backbreaking work
- less backbreaking
Examples
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It is awful, backbreaking work, I know, but we are lucky to have it.
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For Blackwood, it's a potentially backbreaking and bankrupting death penalty case, like the one that hit Quitman County.
Academic text (2001) -
Harvesting, which took place ten to twelve months after planting, was particularly backbreaking work, for farmers had to dig out the large rhizomes with a hoe, in the process loosening the entire soil surface.
Academic text (1997) -
Harvesting the crops was backbreaking work, leaving the farmers exhausted by the end of the day.
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After a day of backbreaking labor at the construction site, the workers desperately needed rest.
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He spent backbreaking hours lifting heavy boxes during the move, and he could barely stand afterward.
Synonyms
Needing a lot of effort and often strict or severe
Hard to do or understand
Very hard and tiring, needing a lot of physical effort
Very difficult to do and needing a lot of effort over a long time
A task or process that needs a lot of time and hard work
Needing a lot of effort and making you very tired
Needing a lot of hard work and making you tired
Hard to do and leaves you very tired
Needing a lot of hard work and careful attention
Antonyms
Compounds
How Strenuous
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
The word backbreaking comes from the strong image of a back that could 'break' from too much work. So, calling a job backbreaking means it is very hard and makes you very tired.