Meanings
comparative more backbreaking · superlative most backbreaking · alternative back-breaking
- figurativelyOf work, very physically tiring.
Ahead [...] each woman is stooped beneath a backbreaking load of firewood.
2019, Maaza Mengiste, The Shadow King, Canongate Books (2020), page 1101 more example
A few keen enginemen, such as Driver Rosewarne of York, could coax good work out of them when engaged in heavy East Coast express service, but to most footplate crews, especially firemen, they were rather heartbreaking and backbreaking machines, and gradually were relegated to secondary or fast goods duties.
1949 May and June, R. A. H. Weight, “A Short-Lived Pacific Class”, in Railway Magazine, page 196
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivecharacterized by effort to the point of exhaustion; especially physical effort
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Finnish uuvuttava
- uuvuttavaof work, very physically tiring
French éreintant
- éreintantof work, very physically tiring
Hungarian fárasztó, kimerítő
- fárasztóof work, very physically tiring
- kimerítőof work, very physically tiring
Icelandic lýjandi, erfiður
- lýjandiof work, very physically tiring
- erfiðurof work, very physically tiring
Italian estenuante, massacrante
- estenuanteof work, very physically tiring
- massacranteof work, very physically tiring
Polish arcytrudny
- arcytrudnyof work, very physically tiring
Cite this entry
backbreaking. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/backbreaking
“backbreaking.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/backbreaking. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “backbreaking,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/backbreaking.
Source: backbreaking on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.