Syn: arduous, backbreaking, back-breaking, exhausting, gruelling, hard, heavy, laborious, labourious, punishing, slavish, strenuous, toilsome. [WordNet 1.5]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
gruelling — also grueling, exhausting, punishing, 1891, from late 18c. slang get one s gruel receive one s punishment, from GRUEL (Cf. gruel) … Etymology dictionary
gruelling — meaning ‘extremely arduous or demanding’, is spelt with two ls in BrE and also as grueling in AmE … Modern English usage
gruelling — (US grueling) ► ADJECTIVE ▪ extremely tiring and demanding. DERIVATIVES gruellingly adverb. ORIGIN from obsolete gruel «exhaust, punish», from get one s gruel «receive one s punishment» … English terms dictionary
gruelling — [[t]gru͟ːəlɪŋ[/t]] ADJ GRADED A gruelling activity is extremely difficult and tiring to do. He had complained of exhaustion after his gruelling schedule over the past week... This flight was more gruelling than I had expected! Syn: exhausting (in … English dictionary
gruelling — UK [ˈɡruːəlɪŋ] / US [ˈɡru(ə)lɪŋ] adjective very difficult and involving a lot of continuous effort a gruelling twelve mile race the President s gruelling schedule … English dictionary
gruelling — adj. Gruelling/grueling is used with these nouns: ↑journey, ↑process, ↑race, ↑schedule, ↑test, ↑tour, ↑trek, ↑work, ↑workout … Collocations dictionary
gruelling — gru|el|ling BrE grueling AmE [ˈgru:əlıŋ] adj [Date: 1800 1900; Origin: gruel to punish (1800 1900), from gruel food ; because people were given gruel as a punishment] very difficult and tiring ▪ The cast took a break from their gruelling schedule … Dictionary of contemporary English
gruelling — BrE grueling AmE adjective very tiring because you have to use a lot of effort for a long time: a gruelling 6 hour mountain hike gruellingly adverb … Longman dictionary of contemporary English
gruelling — adjective see grueling … New Collegiate Dictionary
gruelling — adjective /ˈɡɹʊə.lɪŋ,ˈɡɹu.lɪŋ,ˈɡɹu.əl.ɪŋ/ So difficult or taxing as to make one exhausted; backbreaking. Syn: backbreaking, exhausting … Wiktionary
