[Elamur Dictionary](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/laborious/)

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# laborious

adjective (laborious, more laborious, most laborious)

«laborious» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. Needing a lot of hard work, effort and time. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/laborious/#m1)
2. (of writing or speech) Slow and heavy, showing too much effort. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/laborious/#m2)

### In the lessons

Used in history (building pyramids or castles was laborious), science and maths (counting one by one is laborious, so we use multiplication). In stories it tells the reader a task is long and tiring.

### Examples

- Copying the whole book by hand was laborious work. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/laborious/#x1)
- Digging the tunnel was slow and laborious. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/laborious/#x2)
- Adding 7 forty times is laborious, so use 7 × 40 instead. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/laborious/#x3)
- The Mole's laborious spring-cleaning made his arms ache. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/laborious/#x4)
- Before washing machines, washing clothes was laborious. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/laborious/#x5)
- His laborious handwriting took ages. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/laborious/#x6)

### Note

Comes from «labour». Spelled without u even in the UK: laborious, not labourious. Adverb: laboriously.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «laborious» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/L/laborious/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«laborious» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/laborious.html) on Mova free.