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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

gruelling.

Very difficult or taxing; exhausting; backbreaking.

9 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈɡɹʊə.lɪŋ/UK/ˈɡɹu.lɪŋ/US/ˈɡɹu.əl.ɪŋ/US
  1. Very difficult or taxing; exhausting; backbreaking.

    UK
Where this word comes from

From present participle of gruel (“to exhaust, punish”), from gruel (noun).

noun/ˈɡɹʊə.lɪŋ/UK/ˈɡɹu.lɪŋ/US/ˈɡɹu.əl.ɪŋ/US
  1. A race in which the animal being raced finishes in a state of physical exhaustion.

  2. A gruelling ordeal.

Where this word comes from

From present participle of gruel (“to exhaust, punish”), from gruel (noun).

verb/ˈɡɹʊə.lɪŋ/UK/ˈɡɹu.lɪŋ/US/ˈɡɹu.əl.ɪŋ/US
  1. present participle and gerund of gruel

    form-of · gerund · participle · present
Where this word comes from

From present participle of gruel (“to exhaust, punish”), from gruel (noun).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.