grueling
- adjective
- /ˈɡruːəlɪŋ/
- The marathon was a grueling test of physical endurance, leaving many runners exhausted.
- grueling experience
- grueling work schedule
- grueling process
And earlier that night, we put them through a grueling test called the FTX.
- And earlier that night, we put them through a grueling test called the FTX.
- That was a really grueling and tough process.
- But then defending it is a very gruelling process.
- Like if you had any idea how grueling training camp was?
- There's grit, there's grind, and there's grueling work.
- It sounds grueling and tedious and difficult, and it absolutely is.
- Because I spent almost a decade chasing money and it was emotionally grueling.
- So if the task is really grueling, sure, I can just get gritty or I can stop and go.
- It's difficult, it's tough, it's gruelling, It's unimaginable to anybody that doesn't operate in those realms.
- After years years of grueling rehab, he still failed to make his much dreamed about comeback to the NBA.
- It is actually the most gruelling process of constantly looking.
Examples
-
For decades, young associates have griped about the grueling hours and work environment of the traditional "up-or-out" system.
Academic text (2000) -
Sometimes the work is tough and grueling, and it requires a lot of dedication.
Blog text (14) -
That was a really grueling and tough process.
-
This tour has been grueling for everyone.
-
And, you know, it was a grueling assignment.
-
The experience was grueling but highly effective and deeply appreciated, particularly years later when I began teaching.
Academic text (1998) -
By this time, having kept to a truly grueling schedule for nearly two weeks, I was physically exhausted.
Fiction book (1991) -
It was grueling, it was a grueling day, it was very emotional.
-
It was, no other way to describe it, a grueling experience.
-
The daily regime was rigid and grueling, and it took time, even years, to adjust to it.
Fiction book (1999)
Synonyms
Needing a lot of effort and often strict or severe
Hard to do or understand
To make you feel very tired
Needing a lot of effort or energy
Very difficult to do and needing a lot of effort over a long time
Making you feel tired after a lot of activity
A task or process that needs a lot of time and hard work
Needing a lot of physical or mental effort
Very hard physical work that makes your body tired
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
Needing a lot of time, effort, or attention
Antonyms
How Exhausting
Surface Forms
Morphology
grueling = gruel (opaque) = gruel + ing
The word is historically built from the verb 'gruel' plus '-ing', but the modern sense 'exhausting' is not readily predictable from the base meaning for most learners.
Etymology
Grueling comes from the old word gruel, which means 'thin porridge', and from an old sense of being made to suffer; a helpful image is being forced to eat watery gruel as a punishment. That's why grueling now means something very hard and exhausting.