English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From toil +‎ -some.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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toilsome (comparative more toilsome, superlative most toilsome)

  1. Requiring continuous physical effort; laborious.
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. [], London: [] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
      ‘And you, Sir knight,’ / (Said she) ‘that taken have this toylesome paine / For wretched woman […]!’
    • 1940 July, “Notes and News: Timetables in South Africa”, in Railway Magazine, page 422:
      The whole of the interior of South Africa is, of course, one vast plateau at a considerable elevation, and all the main lines coming up from the coast have some toilsome climbing.

Derived terms

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Translations

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