Arduous: meaning, example and synonyms

Arduousadj. Requiring great effort and persistence; difficult and tiring, especially over a long period.

Flashcard for Arduous (adjective): requiring great effort and persistence; difficult and tiring, especially over a long period. Example: Mapping the river's entire course proved arduous: the survey team spent three summers hauling equipment through dense, roadless forest. Synonyms: strenuous, grueling, taxing, laborious. Antonyms: effortless, easy, undemanding, painless. Memory tip: Arduous sounds like "hard-uous": hard work that drags on. Illustration: a hiker with a heavy backpack climbing a steep rocky mountain slope toward a distant sunrise.

Example

Mapping the river's entire course proved arduous: the survey team spent three summers hauling equipment through dense, roadless forest.

Part of speech
adjective
Synonyms
strenuous, grueling, taxing, laborious
Antonyms
effortless, easy, undemanding, painless
Memory tip
Arduous sounds like "hard-uous": hard work that drags on.

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Check yourself: Arduous in context

Pick the word that best completes each text, as on the SAT's words-in-context questions.

Question 1

Restoring the mural proved ______: conservators spent four years removing grime with cotton swabs no larger than a fingertip.

Question 2

Early settlers described the mountain crossing as ______, noting in their journals that the wagons often advanced less than a mile a day over the rocky passes.

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