herculean

herculean

adjective

Definition of HERCULEAN

1

requiring considerable physical or mental effort <the herculean task of grading 60 student essays over one weekend>

Synonyms arduous, Augean, backbreaking, challenging, demanding, difficult, effortful, exacting, formidable, grueling (or gruelling), heavy, hellacious, herculean, killer, laborious, moiling, murderous, pick-and-shovel, rigorous, rough, rugged, severe, stiff, strenuous, sweaty, tall, testing, toilsome, tough, uphill

Related Words abstract, abstruse, complex, complicated, elusive, hairy, insoluble, intricate, involved, knotty, opaque, problematic (also problematical), recondite, serious, spiny, stubborn, thorny, ticklish, tricky; bruising, burdensome, exhausting, labored, onerous, oppressive, stressful, taxing, tight, trying; annoying, bothersome, distressing, irksome, troublesome, vexatious; grievous, grim, strict, stringent; brutal, cruel, inhuman, painful

Near Antonyms achievable, clear, doable, elementary, manageable, uncomplicated; comforting, gentle, painless, relaxed, smooth, soothing; accessible, friendly, idiotproof, user-friendly

Antonyms cheap, easy, effortless, facile, light, mindless, simple, soft, undemanding

2

unusually large <a herculean banquet table that took eight men to lift it>

Synonyms astronomical (also astronomic), Brobdingnagian, bumper, colossal, cosmic (also cosmical), cyclopean, elephantine, enormous, galactic, gargantuan, giant, gigantesque, gigantic, grand, herculean, heroic (also heroical), Himalayan, humongous (also humungous), immense, jumbo, king-size (or king-sized), leviathan, mammoth, massive, mega, mighty, monster, monstrous, monumental, mountainous, oceanic, pharaonic, planetary, prodigious, super, super-duper, supersize, supersized, titanic, tremendous, vast, vasty, walloping, whacking, whopping

Related Words big, bulky, considerable, extensive, good, goodly, great, gross, handsome, hefty, hulking, largish, major, outsize (also outsized), overgrown, oversize (or oversized), sizable (or sizeable), substantial, tidy, voluminous; august, formidable, grandiose, imposing, lofty, majestic; cavernous, monolithic, overwhelming, staggering, stupendous, towering; boundless, immeasurable, infinite

Near Antonyms little, mini, petite, pint-size (or pint-sized), puny, small, smallish, undersized (also undersize); dinky, dwarfish, half-pint

Antonyms bantam, bitty, diminutive, infinitesimal, Lilliputian, little bitty, micro, microminiature, microscopic (also microscopical), midget, miniature, minuscule, minute, pocket, pygmy, teensy, teensy-weensy, teeny, teeny-weeny, tiny, wee