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If something daunts you, it makes you worried about dealing with it because you think it will be very difficult or dangerous.
Someone who is exacting expects others to work very hard and carefully.
When someone is exonerated from guilt, a task, or a responsibility, they are set free or excused from it.
When you expedite an action or process, you make it happen more quickly.
If you criticize someone’s arguments as being facile, you consider their ideas simplistic and not well thought through.
If something is formidable, it is impressive in size, power, or skill; therefore, it can make you feel frightened, alarmed, or in awe because it is so powerful or difficult to deal with.
Something that is inconspicuous does not attract attention and is not easily seen or noticed because it is small or ordinary.
An indolent person is lazy.
A laborious job or process takes a long time, requires a lot of effort, and is often boring.
If you do something in a lackadaisical way, you do it carelessly and without putting much effort into it—thereby showing that you are not really interested in what you’re doing.
A languid person is slow, relaxed, and shows little energy or interest in doing anything.
When you are listless, you lack energy and interest and are unwilling to exert any effort.
A task or responsibility is onerous if you dislike having to do it because it is difficult or tiring.
Something that is prodigious is very large, impressive, or great.
If you describe someone as redoubtable, you have great respect for their power and strength; you may be afraid of them as well.
If you are in a state of repose, your mind is at peace or your body is at rest.
If your body is affected by torpor, you are severely lacking in energy; therefore, you are idle—and can even be numb.
Someone who is unassuming is not boastful or arrogant; rather, they are modest or humble.
If someone acts in an unobtrusive way, their actions are not easily noticed and do not stand out in any way.
Adj.
arduous
AHR-joo-uhs
Context
It was clear from the bulging of his shoulder muscles that Sisyphus found the difficult task of pushing the enormous boulder uphill to be highly arduous. With concentrated, fierce, and arduous effort Sisyphus persisted in putting his force behind the giant stone. The man’s straining movements moved two observers to pity him, and after a while they joined in the arduous effort. Together, and much less arduously than before, the group of three men at long last succeeded in pushing the boulder to the top of the hill.
Quiz:Try again!
How would you likely feel after an arduous journey?
Happy to have had such a memorable and fun journey.
Exhausted but satisfied that you had completed such a difficult journey.
Grateful that the journey was easy and did not last very long.
Effort Hard for Us Thursday found us hiking Camel's Hump, the third tallest mountain in Vermont; the steep climb was hard for us, and the cold winds made the going even more arduous.
Examples
Friendship is a very taxing and arduous form of leisure activity.
— Mortimer Adler, American philosopher
That process we have just found out in the past few minutes has begun at the top of this mountain, but it’s a very slow, dangerous, arduous process.
—
CNN
"After you've maximized the recruitment [of muscle fibers], you've reached the plateau, which is when the increase in strength and muscle mass becomes an arduous task," Karas says.
—
WebMD
Scott’s party carried on its plans to do scientific research on Antarctica, completing several geological expeditions and one arduous winter trek to collect Emperor Penguin eggs.
—
Wired
When a task is symbolically “steep” or “difficult to reach,” its “nature” is one of extreme difficulty.
Word Theater
A Brief History of Time (1991) Stephen Hawking's way of getting up the stairs was arduous.
The panel shows a small video clip of either the word in actual use or a scene that represents the meaning of a word. This not only breaks up the monotony of studying words but also provides another avenue to strengthen word meaning. Enjoy!
