EN

Synonyms for toilsome

  • adjective

Most common

difficult back-breaking arduous laborious drudgy

All synonyms

Adjective

1. Laborious

laborious, hard, arduous, difficult, heavy, back-breaking, severe, painful, punishing, uphill, tiresome, grueling, onerous, herculean, fatiguing, wearisome, gruelling, exhausting, tedious, troublesome, burdensome, effortful

Other

dreich UK, drudgy

Definitions

  1. adj. 1

    Requiring continuous physical effort; laborious.

Choose the right word

Toilsome or Laborious?

That which is laborious or toilsome simply requires the steady application of labor or toil till accomplished; toilsome is the stronger word.

J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)

Example sentences

  • difficult Explain to him the difficult situation you are in.
  • arduous She went through a long and arduous vocational course.

Popularity over time

Word1850 → 2019Trend
toilsomesteady
difficultsteady
arduoussteady
laboriousfalling

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

4 letters
hard1
5 letters
heavy2
6 letters
severe2, uphill2, dreich, drudgy
7 letters
painful2, tedious3, arduous3, onerous3
8 letters
tiresome3, grueling3
9 letters
difficult3, punishing3, laborious4, herculean4, gruelling, fatiguing3, wearisome3, effortful
10 letters
exhausting3, burdensome3
11 letters
troublesome3

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (heavy2 = 2 syllables).