# laborious

/ɫəˈbɔɹiəs/ (US) · /lɐbˈɔːɹɪəs/ (UK) · CEFR C1 · Adjective

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/laborious
Updated: 2026-05-25

## Definition

describing a task that is very tiring, difficult, or takes a long time to finish. You use this when something requires a lot of hard work.

For teachers: requiring great physical or mental effort; tedious and exhausting. Often used to describe processes that are slow or involve repetitive, difficult tasks.

## Examples

- The manual data entry was a laborious task.
- The researchers spent several months on a laborious process of cross-referencing every single document in the archive.
- While the initial concept was simple, the execution proved laborious, requiring the team to manually verify thousands of data points before the final report could be published.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.