Meaning & use
strenuous
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Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Needing a lot of energy, effort or stamina to do.
Grammar: Used before a noun or after be: a strenuous hike; the climb was strenuous.
Patterns
- strenuous exercise
- strenuous activity
- be strenuous
The doctor told him to avoid strenuous exercise for a month.
It was a strenuous climb up the steep trail.
Moving the piano was more strenuous than we expected.
adjectivebefore a noun
Done with great determination and energy, especially when trying to persuade or resist.
Grammar: Common before nouns such as objection, effort or denial.
Patterns
- strenuous efforts
- strenuous objections
The company made strenuous efforts to fix the problem.
He raised strenuous objections to the new plan.
The mayor gave a strenuous denial of the rumors.
Word forms
| comparative | more strenuous |
|---|---|
| superlative | most strenuous |
Common combinations
- strenuous exercise
- Strenuous exercise makes your heart beat faster.
- strenuous efforts
- Rescuers made strenuous efforts to reach the village.
- strenuous objection
- The lawyer made a strenuous objection to the question.
- strenuous activity
- Avoid strenuous activity after eating.
- a strenuous workout
- After a strenuous workout she slept well.
Synonyms and how they differ
- demanding
- Demanding can describe a heavy workload of any kind, while strenuous leans more toward physical effort.
- arduous
- Arduous suggests a long, hard task that wears you down, and it is slightly more formal than strenuous.
- vigorous
- Vigorous describes energetic action, whereas strenuous describes how hard something is to do.
- taxing
- Taxing often applies to mental strain or a burden on resources, not only physical effort.
Opposites
Word family
- strenuously adverb
- with great effort or determination
- strenuousness noun
- the quality of needing great effort
Commonly confused: strenuous or strenuous?
strenuous vs strenuous
Learners often misspell it as strennuous, but note the single n after the first e and the u before the ending: stren-u-ous.
Practice
The nurse warned her patient to avoid ____ activity during recovery.
Choose one answer.
Strenuous means requiring great effort, which is exactly what a patient is told to avoid. Gentle activity would be recommended, and careless or brief do not suit the warning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “strenuous”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.