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grueling

American  
[groo-uh-ling, groo-ling] / ˈgru ə lɪŋ, ˈgru lɪŋ /
especially British, gruelling

adjective

  1. exhausting; very tiring; arduously severe.

    the grueling Boston marathon.

noun

  1. any trying or exhausting procedure or experience.

Other Word Forms

  • gruelingly adverb

Etymology

Origin of grueling

First recorded in 1850–55; slang gruel “punishment” (noun), “to punish” (verb) + -ing 1, -ing 2

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.