1
as in difficult
requiring considerable physical or mental effort
the herculean task of grading 60 student essays over one weekend
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2
as in enormous
unusually large
a herculean banquet table that took eight men to lift it
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of herculean
There is demand for more walkable communities but to carve out that kind of space would require herculean effort, involving the purchase of land, the demolition of buildings and approval to convert precious real estate into pedestrian zones.
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Jeanne Bonner, CNN Money, 19 Dec. 2025
At a distance, emulating the success of household names can feel like a herculean task.
—Preston Fore, Fortune, 8 Nov. 2025
Sherrill has the herculean task of convincing New Jersey voters to keep Democrats in power.
—Mabinty Quarshie, The Washington Examiner, 30 Oct. 2025
The ideology was corporatist, with the startup as the platonic economic-political formation, which made startup founders herculean figures.
—Literary Hub, 15 Oct. 2025
The herculean effort to translate its gargantuan script didn’t pay off and as a result, the outlook of XSeed localizing Trails in the Sky Second Chapter (SC) and Third Chapter (TC) remained grim for years.
—George Yang, Rolling Stone, 30 Sep. 2025
That would be a herculean task.
—Brock Keeling, Oc Register, 30 Sep. 2025
But unseating Healey in Democrat and progressive Massachusetts will be a herculean task.
—Peter Lucas, Boston Herald, 6 Sep. 2025
The end result would be a chill bar night in our town in suburban Tacoma, Washington, for which Zachary felt a deep ambivalence; persuading him to attend the 10-year had already been a herculean task.
—Jordan Michelman, The Atlantic, 4 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for herculean
Adjective
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Jens generally chooses his words carefully, and is, what’s more, particularly reticent just after finishing a long and difficult winter delivery trip; what’s a person supposed to do with words in a blizzard anyway, up on a stormy heath and all directions lost?—
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In his first start in the wake of Beau Pribula’s significant injury, Zollers walked into a difficult situation, and his stat line reflected it.—
Adjective
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Sensory design has played an enormous role in developing this new identity for the bathroom, and the 2026 NKBA Bath Trends Report shows that numerous sensory trends are expected to continue gaining mainstream traction.—
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By Christmas, the enormous mammal had done serious damage — turning on a gas line under the house —that forced Johnson to live without hot water.—
Adjective
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But last month, Critchfield backed off in the face of a challenging state budget.—
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Depending on where in the country your family lives, winter can be a challenging time for kids who are cooped up inside amid the chillier weather.—
Adjective
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At the center of all the glitzy havoc—her face often looming on a huge flat screen that rolls around the stage, following actors like a hulking LED stalker—is of course Chenoweth.—
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Todd also had a huge sack in the fourth quarter.—
Adjective
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This leads to families having to make tough decisions, said Cindy Kincaid, family caregiver program manager at Centralina Regional Council.—
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She's been amazing, a sort of brutal support, tough lover, very educational.—
Adjective
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Here currently in the United States backed by the courts, the legislative branch and the Justice Department, our president has acquired tremendous power.—
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The light beam distance of 80 meters, or approximately 260 feet, provides a tremendous field of view from three different LEDs.—
Adjective
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The service Aside from a formidable restaurant and spa, the service sets this hotel apart from other country boutiques in Sicily.—
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The hardy parasite is also highly attuned to threats and responds with formidable defense mechanisms — prolonging a treatment process that’s already months to years long and often fraught with other hurdles and pain.—
Adjective
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There’s also a massive leg lumbering in the distance which could be a Sentinel, the gigantic, mutant-hunting robots that are some of X-Men’s most iconic villains.—
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Chaplin holds many vestiges of its former ownership, from an old saw mill and furnace from when Chaplin was making his films, to his footsteps, to a gigantic set of muppet eyes overlooking the soundstage room.—
Cite this Entry
“Herculean.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/herculean. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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