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Webster 1913 Edition

Arduous

Ar′du-ous

(?; 135)
,
Adj.
[L.
arduus
steep, high; akin to Ir.
ard
high, height.]
1.
Steep and lofty, in a literal sense; hard to climb.
Those
arduous
paths they trod.
Pope.
2.
Attended with great labor, like the ascending of acclivities; difficult; laborious;
as, an
arduous
employment, task, or enterprise
.
Syn. – Difficult; trying; laborious; painful; exhausting.
–
Arduous
,
Hard
,
Difficult
. Hard is simpler, blunter, and more general in sense than difficult;
as, a
hard
duty to perform,
hard
work, a
hard
task, one which requires much bodily effort and perseverance to do
. Difficult commonly implies more skill and sagacity than hard, as when there is disproportion between the means and the end. A work may be hard but not difficult. We call a thing arduous when it requires strenuous and persevering exertion, like that of one who is climbing a precipice;
as, an
arduous
task, an
arduous
duty
. “It is often difficult to control our feelings; it is still harder to subdue our will; but it is an arduous undertaking to control the unruly and contending will of others.”

Webster 1828 Edition

Arduous

ARDUOUS

,
Adj.
[L. arduus.]
1.
High, lofty, in a literal sense; as, arduous paths.
2.
Difficult; attended with great labor, like the ascending of acclivities; as, an arduous employment, task, or enterprise.

Definition 2024

arduous

arduous

English

Adjective

arduous ‎(comparative more arduous, superlative most arduous)

  1. Needing or using up much energy; testing powers of endurance.
    The movement towards a peaceful settlement has been a long and arduous political struggle.
    • 2012 May 5, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport:
      Chelsea survived and can now turn their attentions to the Champions League final against Bayern Munich in Germany later this month as they face an increasingly arduous task to finish in the Premier League's top four.
  2. (obsolete) burning; ardent
    Where flames the arduous Spirit of Isidore. — Cary.
  3. (Discuss(+) this sense) Difficult or exhausting to traverse.
    • 1974, Sue Bowder, The American biking atlas & touring guide, page 77:
      Beyond the river, an arduous slope rises 3286 feet in 13 miles.
    • 1999, Scott Ciencin, Mike Fredericks, Dinoverse:
      Mike looked up from the arduous mountain trail. They'd been climbing for five hours and he was beginning to feel irritable.
    • 2006, Jack W. Plunkett, Plunkett's Entertainment & Media Industry Almanac 2006:
      Survivor reaches as many as 28 million viewers who watch contestants win a new Pontiac or guzzle Mountain Dew after scaling an arduous cliff.

Quotations

For usage examples of this term, see Citations:arduous.

Synonyms

Translations

Etymology

From Latin arduus ‎(“lofty, high, steep, hard to reach, difficult, laborious”), akin to Irish ard ‎(“high”).

Pronunciation

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