operose

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

adjective characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion; especially physical effort

From Latin operōsus.

But what an operose[521] method! — Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Ralph Waldo Emerson
These men would teach the Malay the superiority of diving, which can, in fourteen days' fishing, bring into government a revenue of two laks of pagodas, pay the expenses of the fishery, and enrich all parties concerned; while the Malayan operose plan of dredging perhaps affords but a precarious subsistence. — The Expedition to Borneo of H.M.S. Dido: For the Suppression of Piracy, Henry, Sir Keppel
I should have no objection to this method, but that I think it must smell too strong of the lamp,—and be render’d still more operose, by forcing you to have an eye to the rest of his Non-naturals.—Why the most natural actions of a man’s life should be called his Non-naturals,—is another question. — The life and opinions of Tristram Shandy, gentleman, Laurence Sterne

arduous, backbreaking, grueling, gruelling, hard, heavy, laborious, punishing, toilsome

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