labor-intensive

adjective

la·​bor-in·​ten·​sive ˈlā-bər-in-ˌten(t)-siv 

: having high labor costs per unit of output

especially : requiring greater expenditure on labor than in capital

Examples of labor-intensive in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This is a much more labor-intensive procedure than with a document scanner. — David English, PC Magazine, 4 Nov. 2026

Clinical development is rapidly embracing AI to automate labor-intensive activities across the trial lifecycle. — Avik Pal, Forbes.com, 30 Oct. 2026

The business model is based on making a very small quantity of extremely labor-intensive clothing for ultra-wealthy clients that number, at most, a few thousand. — Ashley Ogawa Clarke, Vogue, 29 Oct. 2026

Horrifying as all of this might sound, the team behind it says the robot could offer a faster, less labor-intensive alternative to double-balloon enteroscopy, the current standard for examining the small intestine. — Mack Degeurin, Popular Science, 29 Oct. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1928, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for labor-intensive

• counteroffensive
• antihypertensive
• apprehensive
• coextensive
• comprehensive
• hypertensive
• hypotensive
• inexpensive
• inoffensive
• normotensive
• defensive
• expensive