Meaning & use
Effortful
Last updated
Requiring or showing considerable physical or mental exertion.
See it in a sentence
Learning a new language as an adult can feel much more effortful than it did as a child.
His breathing became effortful as he climbed the last steep section of the trail.
A note on using this word
Psychologists use 'effortful' to distinguish deliberate, attention-demanding mental tasks from automatic ones that require little conscious effort.
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