gruelling
Syllables: gru·el·ingUK/ˈɡɹʊə.lɪŋ//ˈɡɹu.lɪŋ/
gruelling adjective: very difficult or taxing; exhausting; backbreaking. Also the present participle and gerund of gruel.
Adjective
gruelling (comparative more gruelling, superlative most gruelling)
- Very difficult or taxing; exhausting; backbreaking.
- Diggle Station lies high up in the Pennine Chain, subject to extreme low temperatures. With this and heavy snowfall in the winter months, Diggle bids fair to compete with the Scottish lines under similar weather conditions, and the provision of unfrozen water in the higher ambient temperature of...1959 February, “Letters to the Editor: Diggle Water Troughs”, in Railway Magazine, page 135
- Synonyms:
- backbreaking, exhausting, taxing
Noun
gruelling (plural gruellings)
- A race in which the animal being raced finishes in a state of physical exhaustion.
- The expenses are considerably reduced, and one or two men are prevented from carrying off nearly all the races ; for though " the spirit" may be ever so " willing," the " flesh is weak," and cannot stand more than five or six gruellings in a single day.1869, John William Carleton, The Sporting review, ed. by 'Craven'., page 394
- Miss Harriet just got there first from Vauban, the latter being leg weary from his previous gruellings ; the bitch scored four more before giving way to the dog, who made some nice driving points ; Miss Harriet, coming again, finished a good trial an easy winner.1871, The COURSING CALENDAR For The AUTUMN SEASON 1870, page 229
- A gruelling ordeal.
- It was the hardest fighting that our Canadians have been up against, and the manner in which they took these terrible gruellings and assaults is one of the most creditable occurrences in the annals of this great war."1919, John Castell Hopkins, Robert John Renison, Canada at War, 1914-1918: A Record of Heroism and Achievement
- Its life may be but for its hour, amid the gruellings of the world, but for this hour it justifies both its kind and nature, which has produced it, and though it fade and perish, yet it lives as the patterning embodiment of a whole striving after beauty of a creative nature.1934, Lawrence Pearsall Jacks, George Dawes Hicks, George Stephens Spinks, The Hibbert Journal - Volume 33, page 53
Also used as
gruelling is also the present participle and gerund of gruel.
Examples of gruelling in a sentence
- The course was given to the black puppy, but his chance was generally considered to have been utterly destroyed by the two gruellings he had received.1907, James Blyth, The irrevocable, and other stories, page 230:
- 'Give me a buzz when you think you can squeeze me in between English lit and the pinball championships and the gruellings of overwork, OK?'2005, Dai Vaughan, Non-return, →ISBN, page 81:
Synonyms of gruelling
Forms of gruelling
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more gruelling |
| superlative | most gruelling |
| Noun | |
| plural | gruellings |
Origin of gruelling
From present participle of gruel (“to exhaust, punish”), from gruel (noun).
Words formed from gruelling
Questions about gruelling
- What does gruelling mean?
- Gruelling means very difficult or taxing; exhausting; backbreaking.
- How do you use gruelling in a sentence?
- The course was given to the black puppy, but his chance was generally considered to have been utterly destroyed by the two gruellings he had received.
- What part of speech is gruelling?
- Gruelling can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce gruelling?
- Gruelling is pronounced /ˈɡɹʊə.lɪŋ/ (UK).
Words near gruelling in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: gruelling (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-gruelling.ogg, en-au-gruelling.ogg.
Cite this entry: “gruelling.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gruelling. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.