Example Sentences

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Recent Examples of effortful The director and star’s efforts may have lifted the German-language edition, but this static, lost-in-translation revamp just comes off as effortful, for little reward. Dennis Harvey, Variety, 26 Feb. 2025 Sometimes, stars on SNL are born of effortful attention-seeking. Dennis Perkins, EW.com, 16 Feb. 2025 Igor’s eyes were cloudy, and his chest rattled with effortful breathing. Brandon Taylor, The Atlantic, 4 Jan. 2025 Cronin said that the Ducks’ recent pair of losses to the Kings – the Ducks also lost to their crosstown rivals, 3-2, on Saturday in Ontario – demonstrated some of what his club should emulate in terms of effortful shot-blocking and aggressive forechecking. Andrew Knoll, Orange County Register, 1 Oct. 2024 See All Example Sentences for effortful
Recent Examples of Synonyms for effortful
Adjective
  • James is playing the final year of his contract at $52.6 million, which is a very difficult number for teams to pay.
    Evan Massey, MSNBC Newsweek, 5 July 2025
  • The fire is in difficult country with access issues and firefighters are evaluating options for the right flank and head of the fire.
    CA WILDFIRE BOT, Sacbee.com, 5 July 2025
Adjective
  • The producer said getting his hands on an original copy of the Carter song on LP proved challenging, and expensive, signaling a cult following for such music.
    Miles Socha, Footwear News, 9 July 2025
  • Gap Easy Trousers Finding summer work pants that are both breathable and stylish can be challenging, but these petite Easy Trousers from Gap fit the bill perfectly.
    Melony Forcier, Travel + Leisure, 9 July 2025
Adjective
  • The Freeform rolling carry-on was deemed the Best Overall Carry-on by Travel + Leisure after rounds of rigorous testing at our New York City lab.
    Amelia McBride, Travel + Leisure, 11 July 2025
  • Before a potential controller can even step foot in the academy, there’s a rigorous application and qualification process.
    Alexandra Skores, CNN Money, 11 July 2025
Adjective
  • With one out, however, Ohtani was thrown at the plate trying to score from third on Pages’ chopper up the line — making an aggressive, but proper, read in a game in which the Dodgers had long before conceded that runs would be tough to come by.
    Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 9 July 2025
  • The tough part is deciding between a leather sofa or a plush number made with performance fabric.
    Yelena Moroz Alpert, Architectural Digest, 9 July 2025
Adjective
  • These jobs are highly demanding, but they are considered part-time under the city charter.
    Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 8 July 2025
  • Once upon a time, the leadership style of a college coach was simple: intense, demanding, rigid, focused on detail and motivating with more stick than carrot.
    Rustin Dodd, New York Times, 8 July 2025
Adjective
  • Sandoval has received some pay bumps, including a temporary $10,000-a-year bonus for Hawaii special education teachers designed to alleviate shortages in that and other hard-to-staff areas.
    Alia Wong, USA TODAY, 14 Feb. 2023
  • Whether those numbers are an overstatement, or possibly an understatement, is hard to say.
    Lance Eliot, Forbes, 13 Feb. 2023

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Cite this Entry

“Effortful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/effortful. Accessed 18 Jul. 2025.

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