ETYM Latin arduus steep, high; akin to Irish ard high, height.
1. Characterized by toilsome effort to the point of exhaustion; especially physical effort; SYN. backbreaking, grueling, gruelling, hard, heavy, laborious, labourious, punishing, toilsome.
2. Difficult to accomplish; demanding considerable mental effort and skill.
3. Taxing to the utmost; testing powers of endurance; SYN. straining, strenuous.
ETYM AS. biter; akin to Goth. baitrs, Icel. bitr, Dan., Swed., Dutch, and German bitter, OS. bittar, from root of Eng. bite. Related to Bite.
1. Expressive of severe grief or regret.
2. One of the four basic taste sensations; sharp and disagreeable; like the taste of quinine.
3. Proceeding from or exhibiting great hostility or animosity.
4. Very difficult to accept or bear.
Fierce; cruel; keen.
ETYM Old Eng. brim, brimme, AS. brymme edge, border; akin to Icel. barmr, Swed. bräm, Dan. braemme, German brame, bräme. Possibly the same word as AS. brim surge, sea.
1. A rim that sticks outward from the crown.
2. The top edge of a vessel; SYN. rim, lip.
Not easily borne; wearing; SYN. onerous, taxing.
Liable to be accused, or cause for such liability; SYN. indictable.
Physically or spiritually devastating; often used in combination; SYN. devastating.
Difficult to handle or use especially because of size or weight; SYN. cumbrous.
ETYM From Difficulty.
1. Not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure; SYN. hard.
2. Requiring much effort and trouble.
(Informal) Uncertain; dubious.
Sluggish, dull.
ETYM Latin formidabilis, from formidare to fear, dread: cf. French formidable.
1. Extremely impressive in strength or excellence.
2. Inspiring fear; SYN. redoubtable, unnerving.
1. Not yielding to pressure or easily penetrated
2. Metaphorically hard
3. Dried out
4. Into a solid condition
5. Unfortunate or hard to bear; SYN. tough.
6. Very strong or vigorous; SYN. knockout, severe.
7. Having a high alcoholic content; SYN. strong.
8. Said of a drinker or drinking; indulging intemperately; SYN. heavy.
9. Permanent, fixed, or physically defined; unchangeable by the ordinary operation of a computer system. See also hard copy, hard error, hard return, hard-sectored disk. Compare soft (definition 1).
10. Retaining magnetization even in the absence of an external magnetic field. Compare soft (definition 2).
1. Of comparatively great physical weight or density
2. Unusually great in degree or quantity or number
3. Of great intensity or power or force
4. Large and powerful; especially designed for heavy loads or rough work
5. Marked by great psychological weight; weighted down especially with sadness or troubles or weariness
6. Full of; bearing great weight; SYN. weighed down.
7. Slow and laborious because of weight; SYN. lumbering, ponderous.
8. Having or suggesting a viscous consistency
9. Lacking lightness or liveliness; SYN. leaden.
10. Requiring or showing effort; SYN. labored, laboured.
11. Made of fabric having considerable thickness
12. Of the military or industry; using (or being) the heaviest and most powerful armaments or weapons or equipment
13. Sharply inclined
14. Wide from side to side; SYN. thick.
15. Full and loud and deep; SYN. sonorous.
16. Darkened by clouds; SYN. lowering, sullen, threatening.
17. (Physics, chemistry) Being or containing an isotope with greater than average atomic mass or weight
18. (Of sleep) Deep and complete; SYN. profound, sound, wakeless.
19. (Of an actor or role) Being or playing the villain
ETYM Latin laboriosus,fr. labor labor: cf. French laborieux.
1. Requiring labor, perseverance, or sacrifices.
2. Toilsome; tiresome.
ETYM French massif.
1. Consisting of great mass; containing a great quantity of matter.
2. Imposing in scale or scope or degree or power.
3. Imposing in size or bulk or solidity; SYN. monolithic, monumental.
4. Being the same substance throughout.
Massive, weighty
1. Limited in size or scope
2. Not wide
3. Very limited in degree
ETYM Latin onerosus, from onus, oneris, a load, burden: cf.French onéreux.
Burdensome; oppressive.
Burdensome; weighty.
1. Causing physical or psychological pain
2. Requiring effort or exertion
ETYM Latin ponderosus, from pondus, -eris, a weight: cf. French pondéreux. Related to Ponder.
1. Having great mass and weight and unwieldiness.
2. Labored and dull.
1. Sturdy and strong in constitution or construction; enduring
2. Very difficult; severely testing stamina or resolution; SYN. tough.
ETYM Latin serius: cf. French sérieux, Late Lat. seriosus.
1. Concerned with work or important matters rather than play or trivialities.
2. Of great consequence.
3. Requiring effort or concentration; complex and not easy to answer or solve.
1. Intensely or extremely bad or unpleasant in degree or quality; SYN. terrible, wicked.
2. Unsparing and uncompromising in discipline or judgment; SYN. spartan, strict.
3. Very bad in degree or extent
1. Lacking ease in bending; not limber
2. Hard to overcome or surmount; SYN. uphill.
3. Not moving or operating freely
4. Powerful
ETYM Prov. Eng.
Excessively conventional and unimaginative and hence dull; SYN. stuffy.
1. Not given to gentleness or sentimentality
2. Physically toughened; SYN. toughened.
3. Tough to cut or chew.
Hard to endure, severely straining the powers of endurance
1. Lacking a sense of security or affording no ease or reassurance
2. Marked by a lack of quiet; not conducive to rest; SYN. restless.
1. Situated on elevated ground
2. Going up; ascending
3. Being the higher one or part especially of a set; specifically; being nearer the top of an incline
4. Difficult, laborious