Arduous - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

ar·du·ous

Audio Help [ahr-joo-uh

s or, especially Brit., ahr-dyoo-] Pronunciation Key

–adjective

1.	requiring great exertion; laborious; difficult: an arduous undertaking.

2.	requiring or using much energy and vigor; strenuous: making an arduous effort.

3.	hard to climb; steep: an arduous path up the hill.

4.	hard to endure; full of hardships; severe: an arduous winter.

[Origin: 1530–40; < L arduus erect, steep, laborious; see -ous

]

—Related forms

ar·du·ous·ly, adverb

ar·du·ous·ness, noun

—Synonyms 1. hard, toilsome, onerous, wearisome, burdensome, exhausting.

—Antonyms 1. easy.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Arduous

To learn more about Arduous visit Britannica.com

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

ar·du·ous Audio Help (är'jōō-əs) Pronunciation Key
adj.

Demanding great effort or labor; difficult: "the arduous work of preparing a Dictionary of the English Language" (Thomas Macaulay).
Testing severely the powers of endurance; strenuous: a long, arduous, and exhausting war.
Hard to traverse, climb, or surmount. See Synonyms at burdensome, hard.

[From Latin arduus, high, steep.]

ar'du·ous·ly adv., ar'du·ous·ness n.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
arduous

1538, "high, steep, difficult to climb," from L. arduus "high, steep," from PIE base *eredh- "to grow, high" (cf. O.Ir. ard "high"). Metaphoric extension to "difficult" first attested 1713.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

arduous
adjective
1.	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"
2.	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
3.	difficult to accomplish; demanding considerable mental effort and skill; "the arduous work of preparing a dictionary"

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
arduous [ˈaːdjuəs, (American) -dʒu-] adjective

difficult; needing hard work
Example: an arduous task

Arabic:	شاق، مُرهِق
Chinese (Simplified):	艰巨的
Chinese (Traditional):	艱巨的
Czech:	obtížný, pracný, svízelný
Danish:	vanskelig; besværlig
Dutch:	lastig, zwaar
Estonian:	vaevaline
Finnish:	työläs
French:	ardu
German:	mühselig
Greek:	επίπονος, κοπιώδης
Hungarian:	nehéz
Icelandic:	erfiður
Indonesian:	sulit, sukar
Italian:	arduo

Japanese:	骨の折れる
Korean:	힘든
Latvian:	grūts; spraigs
Lithuanian:	sunkus, varginantis
Norwegian:	vanskelig, anstrengende
Polish:	żmudny
Portuguese (Brazil):	árduo
Portuguese (Portugal):	penoso
Romanian:	dificil
Russian:	трудный
Slovak:	náročný
Slovenian:	težaven
Spanish:	arduo
Swedish:	svår, mödosam
Turkish:	zor, güç

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Arduous

Ar"du*ous\ (?; 135), a. [L. arduus steep, high; akin to Ir. ard high, height.]

1. Steep and lofty, in a literal sense; hard to climb.

Those arduous paths they trod. --Pope.

2. Attended with great labor, like the ascending of acclivities; difficult; laborious; as, an arduous employment, task, or enterprise.

Syn: Difficult; trying; laborious; painful; exhausting.

Usage: Arduous, Hard, Difficult. Hard is simpler, blunter, and more general in sense than difficult; as, a hard duty to perform, hard work, a hard task, one which requires much bodily effort and perseverance to do. Difficult commonly implies more skill and sagacity than hard, as when there is disproportion between the means and the end. A work may be hard but not difficult. We call a thing arduous when it requires strenuous and persevering exertion, like that of one who is climbing a precipice; as, an arduous task, an arduous duty. "It is often difficult to control our feelings; it is still harder to subdue our will; but it is an arduous undertaking to control the unruly and contending will of others."

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