back-breaking

The farmer's back-breaking work in the field lasted all day.

Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Physically exhausting: "back-breaking" describes work or effort that is extremely tiring, especially physical labor that strains the back or body.

Usage Examples

• (Extremely tiring physical work.)
• (A job requiring great physical effort.)
• (Work that causes severe physical strain.)

Advanced Usage

• "back-breaking work": a common collocation meaning physically demanding labor.
  • Mining in the 19th century involved back-breaking work with little pay.
• "back-breaking effort": an extremely strenuous attempt.
  • It took a back-breaking effort to move the heavy piano upstairs.

Variants and Related Words

• Backbreaker (noun): something that is extremely difficult or exhausting.
  • The final exam was a real backbreaker for the students. (An extremely challenging task.)

Synonyms

• Grueling: extremely tiring and demanding.
• Arduous: involving great effort and difficulty.
• Strenuous: requiring great physical or mental energy.
• Exhausting: causing extreme tiredness.
• Laborious: requiring much hard work.

Related Idioms

• Break one's back: to work extremely hard.
  • He broke his back trying to meet the deadline. (He worked very hard.)
• Backbreaking labor: a fixed phrase synonymous with "back-breaking work."

Note on Usage

• "Back-breaking" is almost always used as an adjective before a noun, rarely after a linking verb (e.g., "The work was back-breaking" is acceptable but less common than "back-breaking work").
• It is hyphenated in standard English, but "backbreaking" (without hyphen) is sometimes seen in informal writing.