Onerous Meaning
/ˈɒnəɹəs/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjImposing or constituting a physical, mental, or figurative load which can be borne only with effort; burdensome.
Sentence Examples
The cost of repairing this damage will be onerous.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ task of moving the heavy furniture exhausted him.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The new regulations placed an ____ burden on small businesses that struggled to comply.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₃enh₂- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *h₃énh₂os Proto-Italic *onos Latin onus Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *h₃édosder.? Proto-Italic *-ōtsos or *-otsos Latin -ōsus Latin onerosuslbor. Old French onereus Middle French onereuxbor. Middle English onerous English onerous Inherited from Middle English onerous, borrowed from Middle French onereux, from Old French onereus, a learned borrowing from Latin onerosus, from onus (“burden”) + -ōsus. Compare exonerate.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"That all this might not be too onerous on the purses of his rustic patrons, who are apt to consider the costs of schooling a grievous burden, and schoolmasters as mere drones, he had various ways of rendering himself both useful and agreeable."
— 1820, Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow:
"Again, and more intensely than ever, she desired a fixed occupation,—no matter how onerous, how irksome."
— 1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “Further Communications on Business”, in Shirley. A Tale. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 45:
"[I]t has become an onerous duty, a wearisome and distasteful task."
— 1910, Jack London, “The Golden Poppy”, in Revolution and Other Essays:
"The striker's job was onerous, too, because there was so little "give" in the metal, and the perpetual jarring was indeed trying to the muscles."
— 1945 January and February, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—III”, in Railway Magazine, page 13:
"However, given current sensibilities about individual privacy and data protection, the recording of oral data is becoming increasingly onerous for researchers[.]"
— 2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 11:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ task of moving the heavy furniture exhausted him.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The new regulations placed an ____ burden on small businesses that struggled to comply.