arduous

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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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.

2. (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 examples of the usage of this term see the citations page.

Synonyms

burdensome demanding exhausting

fatiguing laborious onerous

strenuous wearisome

Translations

needing or using up much energy

Arabic: شاق (ar) (šāq) Bulgarian: труден (bg), усилен (bg), мъчен (bg) Chinese: Mandarin: 艱苦 (zh), 艰苦 (zh) (jiānkǔ) Croatian: mukotrpan (hr) m., mukotrpna (hr) f., mukotrpno (hr) n. Dutch: uitputtend (nl), zwaar (nl), moeizaam (nl) Finnish: vaivalloinen (fi), työläs (fi), uuvuttava (fi), rasittava (fi), ankara (fi) French: ardu (fr) German: mühsam (de),anstrengend (de), beschwerlich (de) Hungarian: megerőltető (hu), fárasztó (hu), fáradságos (hu)

Italian: arduo (it) m., ardua (it) f. Japanese: 苦しい (ja) (くるしい , kurushii), 難儀な (ja) (なんぎな, nangi-na) Norwegian: slitsom (no), vanskelig (no) Russian: напряжённый (ru) (naprjažónnyj), трудный (ru) (trúdnyj), тяжёлый (ru) (tjažólyj) Spanish: arduo (es), riguroso (es) Swedish: arbetsam (sv), besvärlig (sv), jobbig (sv), ansträngande (sv), avancerad (sv), krånglig (sv), svår (sv), jobbig (sv) Turkish: ağır (tr), çetin (tr), gayretli (tr), güç (tr), zor (tr)

hard to climb

Bulgarian: стръмен (bg), недостъпен (bg) Dutch: uitputtend (nl), zwaar (nl), steil (nl), moeilijk te beklimmen (nl) Finnish: jyrkkä (fi), vaativa (fi) German: steil (de) Italian: arduo (it) m., ardua (it) f.

Norwegian: vanskelig (no) Russian: крутой (ru), труднодоступный (ru) Spanish: arduo (es) Swedish: brant (sv), besvärlig (sv) Turkish: sarp (tr), çetin (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Bengali: shramasadhya Ido: des-facila (1), abrupta (2)

External links

• arduous in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• arduous in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• arduous at OneLook Dictionary Search