onerous

English

Etymology

(deprecated template usage) From Middle English onerous, from Middle French onereux, from Old French onereus, from Latin onerosus (“burdensome”), from onus (“load”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɒnəɹəs/, /ˈəʊnəɹəs/
• IPA^(key): /ˈɑnəɹəs/, /ˈoʊnəɹəs/

Adjective

onerous (comparative more onerous, superlative most onerous)

1. imposing or constituting a physical, mental, or figurative load which can be borne only with effort; burdensome.
   • 1820, Washington Irving, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow":

     That all this might not be too onerous on the purses of his rustic patrons, who are apt to consider the costs of schooling a grievous burden, and schoolmasters as mere drones, he had various ways of rendering himself both useful and agreeable.

   • 1848, Charlotte Brontë, Shirley, ch. 13:

     Again, and more intensely than ever, she desired a fixed occupation,—no matter how onerous, how irksome.

   • 1910, Jack London, "The Golden Poppy" in Revolution and Other Essays:

     [I]t has become an onerous duty, a wearisome and distasteful task.

Synonyms

• (burdensome): demanding, difficult, taxing, wearing

Derived terms

• onerously

Translations

burdensome

• Catalan: onerós
• Dutch: veeleisend (nl), moeilijk (nl), lastig (nl)
• French: onéreux (fr), pénible (fr), lourd (fr)
• German: beschwerlich (de), drückend (de), lästig (de), mühsam (de)
• Italian: oneroso (it), ostico (it) m
• Latin: onerōsus
• Maori: taimaha, taumaha, toimaha
• Polish: uciążliwy (pl) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: oneroso (pt) m, onerosa f
• Russian: обременительный (ru) m (obremenitelʹnyj), тягостный (ru) m (tjagostnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: tegoban (sh), zamoran (sh)
• Spanish: oneroso (es)
• Swedish: jobbig (sv)
• Turkish: ağır (tr), eziyetli (tr), güç (tr), külfetli (tr), sıkıntılı (tr), zahmetli (tr)

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Middle English

Alternative forms

• honerous, onerose, onerouse

Etymology

(deprecated template usage) From Middle French onereux, from Old French onereus, from Latin onerosus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔnɛˈruːs/, /ɔˈnɛrus/

Adjective

onerous

1. (Late Middle English) onerous

Descendants

• English: onerous

References

• “onerǒus (adj.)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-1-7.