Word of the Day: Onerous (adjective)
Possible Meanings:
- Burdensome, causing a lot of difficulty or effort.
- Excessively expensive or costly. (Less common)
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Example Sentences:
- Juggling work, school, and family life can be a very onerous responsibility. (Explanation: Onerous is used here because managing all these things at once requires a lot of effort and can be overwhelming.)
- The new tax laws placed an onerous burden on small businesses. (Explanation: This sentence describes the new taxes as being very expensive and difficult for small businesses to handle.)
- The hike was beautiful, but the onerous climb left us all exhausted. (Explanation: Onerous describes the hike as being very physically demanding.)
- After reviewing the lengthy contract, they decided it was too onerous to agree to all the terms. (Explanation: Here, onerous describes the contract as having too many difficult or unreasonable requirements.)
- Weeding the overgrown garden was an onerous task that took us all afternoon. (Explanation: Onerous is used because weeding the entire garden was a lot of work and required significant effort.)
Conversation Example:
Person 1: “I’m thinking about taking on a part-time job while I’m in school. Do you think it will be too much?”
Person 2: It depends on your schedule and workload. If you already have a lot on your plate, adding another responsibility could be quite onerous.
Can you use onerous in a sentence of your own? Share your example in the comments below.