Herculean

Herculean
adjective
Her·;cu·;le·;an ;h;r-ky;-;l;-;n  ;h;r-;ky;-l;-
1
: of, relating to, or characteristic of Hercules
2
often not capitalized : of extraordinary power, extent, intensity, or difficulty
Herculean tasks
Herculean proportions


Did you know?
The hero Hercules, son of the god Zeus by a human mother, was famous for his superhuman strength. To pacify the wrath of the god Apollo, he was forced to perform twelve enormously difficult tasks, or “labors.” These ranged from descending into the underworld to bring back the terrifying dog that guarded its entrance to destroying the many-headed monster called the Hydra. The feats he accomplished explain how Herculean in the 16th century came to be used for any job or task that’s extremely difficult or calls for enormous strength.


Did you know?
The hero Hercules, son of the god Zeus by a human mother, was famous for his superhuman strength. To pacify the wrath of the god Apollo, he was forced to perform twelve enormously difficult tasks, or "labors". These ranged from descending into the underworld to bring back the terrifying dog that guarded its entrance to destroying the many-headed monster called the Hydra. Any job or task that's extremely difficult or calls for enormous strength is therefore called herculean.

Synonyms
arduous
Augean
backbreaking
challenging
demanding
difficult
effortful
exacting
formidable
grueling
gruelling
hard
heavy
hellacious
killer
laborious
moiling
murderous
pick-and-shovel
rigorous
rough
rugged
severe
stiff
strenuous
sweaty
tall
testing
toilsome
tough
uphill
Examples of Herculean in a Sentence
the herculean task of grading 60 student essays over one weekend
a herculean banquet table that took eight men to lift it

Word History
First Known Use
1513, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of Herculean was in 1513
See more words from the same year