heavy lifting

noun

: a burdensome or laborious duty

Examples of heavy lifting in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

That capped a busy trade-deadline season in which other playoff hopefuls did their heavy lifting days or even weeks before Tuesday afternoon’s cutoff. — Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News, 10 Nov. 2026

For a company that provides the literal heavy lifting for infrastructure growth, that's a structural advantage worth trading. — Michael Khouw, CNBC, 9 Nov. 2026

Saturday’s plan called for Holcomb to manage the game for the Crusaders and let the team’s standout running game do more of the heavy lifting. — Paul Johnson, Chicago Tribune, 8 Nov. 2026

So, while the robot handles the heavy lifting, a human still makes the decisions. — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 7 Nov. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1980, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for heavy lifting

• drifting
• gifting
• rifting
• shifting
• sifting
• shoplifting
• uplifting