backbreaking

or back-break·ing

[ bak-brey-king ]

See synonyms for backbreaking on Thesaurus.com

adjective

demanding great effort, endurance, etc.; exhausting: a backbreaking job.

Origin of backbreaking

First recorded in 1780–90; back¹ + break + -ing²

Other words from backbreaking

backbreaker, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use backbreaking in a sentence

Picture Danny Glover, Sally Field, and John Malkovich doing back-breaking work to save their farm.
Amy Poehler Picks Her Favorite Sad Films | Amy Poehler | January 17, 2011 | THE DAILY BEAST
Without an education, they face a lifetime of back-breaking work and poverty-level wages.
Did a Child Pick Your Strawberries? | Zama Coursen-Neff | May 12, 2010 | THE DAILY BEAST
And this was a great relief to him—it was one more back-breaking task that he did not have to contemplate!
Love's Pilgrimage | Upton Sinclair
To this day the remembrance of those back-breaking knapsacks makes me weary.
A Raw Recruit's War Experiences | Ansel D. Nickerson
But though busy were the days and full of hard and at times back-breaking and nerve-straining work, what of it?
Corporal Cameron | Ralph Connor

Visions of days and weeks of back-breaking toil stretched before him.
The "Genius" | Theodore Dreiser
Two of the wolves rushed in, and Kazan heard the terrific, back-breaking thud of the rifle.
Kazan | James Oliver Curwood

British Dictionary definitions for backbreaking

backbreaking

/ (ˈbækˌbreɪkɪŋ) /

adjective

demanding great effort; exhausting

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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