gruelling
/ˈɡrʊəlɪŋ
/(US grueling)
adjective
Extremely tiring and demanding: a gruelling schedule...
- Teams of between two and eight dogs will run at speeds of over 20 miles per hour around the gruelling four-mile course.
- The documentary filmed them preparing for the latter, and their gruelling training regime was something to behold.
- Plus, after a gruelling few days the creative juices were a little slack.
Synonyms
exhausting, tiring, fatiguing, wearying, enervating, taxing, draining, sapping, debilitating;
demanding, exacting, trying, difficult, hard, arduous, laborious, back-breaking, strenuous, harsh, severe, stiff, punishing, crushing, crippling, grinding, brutal, relentless, unsparing
informal killing, murderous, hellish
British informal knackering
rare exigent
Derivatives
gruellingly
- Democrats - estranged from and ashamed of their progressive flank - wear themselves out to retain gains gruelingly won through nearly a century of grassroots action.
- And it bred optimism among people who knew ruthless competition and gruelingly hard work.
- Instead, I was gifted with the opportunity to endure the latest gruelingly stupid motion picture aimed at children who have been raised from infancy by a television set.
Origin
Mid 19th century: from the verb gruel 'exhaust, punish', from an old phrase get one's gruel 'receive one's punishment'.