heavy lifting

noun

: a burdensome or laborious duty

Examples of heavy lifting in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Major indexes shifted lower after a quiet morning as rising bond yields undercut much of the heavy lifting being done by several technology behemoths. — Damian J. Troise, Los Angeles Times, 29 Sep. 2026

The purpose of this computational heavy lifting could be huge. — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 29 Sep. 2026

In other words, modern detergents and washing machines are doing more of the heavy lifting, which means less heat is needed to get the same result. — Ryan Brennan, Sacbee.com, 28 Sep. 2026

The show seems to hope that the thrill of fan service will do the heavy lifting, shoving one seemingly meaningful cameo appearance after another in front of the camera. — Jen Chaney, Vulture, 26 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1980, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for heavy lifting

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