Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

laborious

/ləˈbɔːɹiəs/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.80 in modern English

Syllables: la-bo-ri-ous
IPA: /ləˈbɔːɹiəs/

11

Scrabble Score

9

Letters

4

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Requiring much physical effort; toilsome.

adj

Mentally difficult; painstaking.

adj

Example Sentences

"Let us face it, our lives are miserable, laborious, and short."
"The coal is then transferred to broad-gauge wagons for transport to Dublin. The transhipment is a rather laborious business, the coal being shovelled by hand from one wagon to another."
"All, with united Force, combine to drive / The lazy Drones from the laborious Hive."

Etymology

From Old French laborios, from Latin laboriosus. By surface analysis, labor + -ious

Inflected Forms

more laborious (comparative) most laborious (superlative) labourious (alternative, obsolete) laborous (alternative, obsolete) labourous (alternative, obsolete)

Derived Forms

laboriosity laboriously laboriousness nonlaborious ultralaborious unlaborious

Frequently Paired Words

labor labour

Synonyms

painstaking toilsome worksome painful arduous backbreaking grueling gruelling hard heavy operose punishing

Rhymes With

glorious notorious victorious meritorious inglorious self-glorious uproarious censorious vainglorious uxorious maritorious memorious

Questions

How do you pronounce laborious?: The recorded pronunciation is /ləˈbɔːɹiəs/.
What does laborious mean?: Requiring much physical effort; toilsome.
Where does laborious come from?: From Old French laborios, from Latin laboriosus. By surface analysis, labor + -ious

How to pronounce laborious

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “laborious”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ləˈbɔːɹiəs/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
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