Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Requiring considerable and sustained effort; difficult and tiring: Describes tasks, processes, or activities that demand hard work, great care, or prolonged exertion, often to the point of exhaustion.
   • Hard-working; diligent: (Less common) Describes a person who is characterized by hard work and perseverance.

Usage

• The adjective laborious is used to describe a task, job, or process. It emphasizes the difficulty and effort involved, not the speed. It often implies the work is tedious or monotonous as well as hard.
• It typically precedes a noun (e.g., a laborious process) or follows a linking verb like or (e.g., The work was laborious).
• While it can describe a person ("a laborious researcher"), it is more commonly used for the work itself.

Examples

• Describing a task or process:
  • Proofreading the entire manuscript was a laborious task.
  • The laborious process of hand-weaving can take weeks for a single rug.
  • Data entry is often laborious and repetitive work.
• Describing effort:
  • They made laborious progress through the deep snow.

Advanced Usage

• "Laborious" vs. "Hard" or "Difficult": "Laborious" specifically connotes sustained, painstaking effort, often involving many small, careful steps. A "difficult" math problem requires intelligence; a "laborious" cleanup requires prolonged physical or meticulous effort.
• In a negative or neutral tone: It often carries a slightly negative connotation, suggesting the work is wearisome or could be more efficient.
  • The old filing system made finding documents a laborious affair.

Variants and Related Words

• Laboriously (adverb): In a way that requires a lot of time and effort.
  • The text had been laboriously copied by hand.
• Laboriousness (noun): The quality of being laborious. (This form is rare in everyday use.)

Synonyms

• Arduous: Strenuously demanding; severe. Often used for physically challenging tasks (e.g., an arduous climb).
• Grueling: Extremely tiring and demanding.
• Strenuous: Requiring great exertion.
• Painstaking: Done with great care and thoroughness. Focuses more on the careful effort than the physical toll.
• Toilsome: (Literary) Involving hard work.

Antonyms

• Easy
• Effortless
• Simple
• Undemanding

Idioms and Phrases

• (A) labor of love: A task done for pleasure, not reward, even if it is laborious.
  • Restoring the classic car was a labor of love for him.
• Laborious by nature: Inherently requiring great effort.
  • Archaeological excavation is laborious by nature.

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