1
as in difficult
requiring considerable physical or mental effort
faced with the toilsome task of cleaning out her deceased father's homestead
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in challenging
requiring much time, effort, or careful attention
this is the most toilsome part of the construction, so we'll go slowly to make sure we're doing it right
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of toilsome
Meanwhile, Republicans lacked the votes to pass anything so their amendments tended to be trollish and toilsome fliers meant to either own the libs or just annoy the legislators.
—
Matt Ford, The New Republic, 9 Aug. 2022
Though the third quarter was significantly better for Netflix than its previous quarter, the company signaled that there could be toilsome times ahead.
—Natalie Jarvey, The Hollywood Reporter, 16 Oct. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for toilsome
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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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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Every credit card review is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors.—
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The Encinitas Green Business Network provides a rigorous framework for local organizations to reduce their environmental footprint through actionable, practical, and high-impact improvements.—
Adjective
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Philadelphia first tried the 24-year-old at center but eventually moved him to the wing, presumably because of his struggles in the faceoff circle (just 39 percent of draws won) and because the wing is a less demanding defensive position.—
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Both must meet demanding performance standards, operate on efficient edge-compute systems, deliver provable safety, and scale in a commercially viable way.—
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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But playing Banjeree required a mental one that proved even more arduous.—
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Among them are more than 150 women who completed the arduous Ranger training.—
Adjective
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Of all my books, Helm has been so hard and so lovingly written.—
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Regardless, making amends with Ronnie is harder than Lilly would like.—
Adjective
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Drying clothing could take days and ironing, well, ironing is still laborious.—
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Governing is a long and laborious process, requiring study, deliberation and the weighing of competing forces.—
Cite this Entry
“Toilsome.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/toilsome. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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