Meanings
comparative more toilsome · superlative most toilsome · alternative obsolete toylesome
- Requiring continuous physical effort; laborious.
‘And you, Sir knight,’ / (Said she) ‘that taken have this toylesome paine / For wretched woman […]!’
1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC1 more example
The whole of the interior of South Africa is, of course, one vast plateau at a considerable elevation, and all the main lines coming up from the coast have some toilsome climbing.
1940 July, “Notes and News: Timetables in South Africa”, in Railway Magazine, page 422
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
Ancient Greek ἐπίπονος, μογερός
- ἐπίπονος (epíponos)Requiring continuous physical effort
- μογερός (mogerós)Requiring continuous physical effort
Bulgarian тежък, уморителен
- тежък (težăk)Requiring continuous physical effort
- уморителен (umoritelen)Requiring continuous physical effort
German mühselig, mühsam
- mühseligRequiring continuous physical effort
- mühsamRequiring continuous physical effort
- anstrengendRequiring continuous physical effort
- schwerRequiring continuous physical effort
Latin laboriosus
- laboriosusRequiring continuous physical effort
Spanish laborioso, arduo
- laboriosoRequiring continuous physical effort
- arduoRequiring continuous physical effort
Cite this entry
toilsome. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/toilsome
“toilsome.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/toilsome. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “toilsome,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/toilsome.
Source: toilsome on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.