Onerous: meaning, example and synonyms
Onerousadj. Involving heavy effort or burden; troublesome to carry out.
Example
Small farms found the new reporting rules especially onerous, since filing the required forms each week consumed hours they needed for planting.
- Part of speech
- adjective
- Synonyms
- burdensome, arduous, taxing, oppressive
- Antonyms
- easy, effortless, light, undemanding
- Memory tip
- Latin onus = burden: an onerous task is all onus.
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Check yourself: Onerous in context
The loan's ______ terms, including steep interest and monthly inspections of the borrower's accounts, drove many small firms to seek financing elsewhere.
Answer: onerous. Steep interest and constant inspections are burdensome terms: onerous. Quirky (oddly unusual), prophetic (predictive) and tractable (easily managed) don't fit this context.
Caring for her aging parents while working full time proved ______, and she eventually hired a nurse to share the exhausting responsibilities.
Answer: onerous. Exhausting responsibilities that required help are onerous. Quirky (oddly unusual), prophetic (predictive) and mordant (bitingly sarcastic) don't fit this context.