What does arduous mean?
Word: Arduous
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Arduous means needing a lot of effort and energy; very hard and tiring.
Synonyms: difficult, strenuous, gruelling, tough
Antonyms: easy, simple
How do you spell arduous?
Syllables: ar - du - ous
Tricky part: The ending -uous is the trap: students write arduos or ardous, losing one of the vowels.
Watch out for: arduos, ardous, ardueous
Memory tip: Arduous ends just like strenuous, another word for hard work. Both finish in -uous: u, o, u, s.
Arduous in a sentence
Example 1: The arduous climb to Kedarnath took my grandparents almost a whole day.
Example 2: Cleaning the house after the flood was an arduous job for the whole street.
Example 3: Training for the marathon was arduous, but crossing the finish line made it worth it.
Fun Fact
Arduous comes from a Latin word meaning steep or high, which suits a hard climb up a mountain path.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word arduous as used in the sentence:
The porters made an arduous trek across the pass with heavy loads on their backs.
a) effortless
b) exhausting
c) tiring
d) demanding
Show answer
a) effortless. A trek with heavy loads over a high pass is the very opposite of effortless, which means needing no effort at all.
Word Cookie
Insert the correct letters to form a word:
_r_uous
a) a, j
b) o, d
c) e, d
d) a, d
Show answer
d) a, d. The word starts with a, and the sound in the middle that can come out like j is still written d.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters to find the word that fits the sentence:
Building the hostel on that steep hillside was a sodrauu task for the workers.
a) ambiguous
b) audacious
c) assiduous
d) arduous
Show answer
d) arduous. Assiduous has two s's and an i, ambiguous a b, g and i, and audacious a c and an i; only arduous fits.
Spell-o-Spell
Three words in the list are spelt correctly and one is misspelt. Choose the meaning of the misspelt word.
1. arduous 2. vigourous 3. tedious 4. tremendous
a) long, slow and boring
b) very great in amount or size
c) strong, active and full of energy
d) needing great effort over a long time
Show answer
c) strong, active and full of energy. Vigour keeps its u in British English, but vigorous drops it; arduous, tedious and tremendous are correct.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which task would you call arduous?
a) climbing two steps to the front door
b) carrying bricks up five floors in the heat
c) carrying a school bag to the bus stop
d) lifting a cup of tea from the table
Show answer
b) carrying bricks up five floors in the heat
2. A student who calls revision arduous finds it ____.
a) unimportant for the exam
b) something done only once
c) pleasant and quick to finish
d) hard work that takes a lot of effort
Show answer
d) hard work that takes a lot of effort
