Onerous
Difficult; burdensome; heavy to bear
adjectiveOnerous
Difficult; burdensome; heavy to bear
adjectiveImagine This
It is a difficult job for one person to rule over a town, handle all its paperwork, and make all the decisions for the town folks. When one guy picks up the backpack for his two-week hiking trip, he said, 'The weight is on me.'
Sounds Like
OH-nuh-ruhs
Looks Like
One_rules
Remember This
From Latin onerosus meaning burdensome; 'onus' means burden. The word emphasizes a heavy burden or obligation.
Other Forms
Connect With
burdensome, burden, load, taxing, arduous
Note
Onerous is typically used to describe tasks, duties, laws, or obligations that are burdensome or oppressive; not interchangeable with 'easy' or 'light' contexts.
Study Deeper
- The new compliance requirements were an onerous burden for small businesses.
- Clerical duties can be an onerous part of a trainee's job.
From Latin onerosus 'burdensome', from onus 'burden'.
Mnemonic: Onus means burden; add -er- and -ous to form onerous, meaning full of burden. Remember that an onerous task is something burdensome and heavy to bear.
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Similar Words
Related words and words with the same part of speech.
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adjectiveDifficult to understand; obscure or highly complex.
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