Word.ws English Dictionary

herculean

US/hɜːɹˈkjuːliən/

herculean is the alternative letter-case form of Herculean.

Adjective capitalized: Herculean

Herculean (comparative more Herculean, superlative most Herculean)

  1. Of extraordinary might, power, size, etc.; suggesting Hercules in size or strength.
    • But this is not the best:—look, pr'ythee, Charmian, / How this Herculean Roman does become / The carriage of his chafe.c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
  2. Requiring a huge amount of work; of extraordinary difficulty.
    • a Herculean labour
    • He replied in a dry manner, that I would find it a Herculean task to chastise everybody who should laugh at my expense;1748, Tobias George Smollett, The Adventures of Roderick Random

Forms of herculean

comparativemore herculean
superlativemost herculean
comparativemore Herculean
superlativemost Herculean
alternative formHerculæan
alternative formHerculian
alternative formherculean
alternative formherculian

Origin of herculean

From Hercules + -an.

Words that rhyme with herculean

Questions about herculean

What does herculean mean?
Herculean means of extraordinary might, power, size, etc.; suggesting Hercules in size or strength.
What is herculean the alternative letter-case form of?
Herculean is the alternative letter-case form of Herculean.
What part of speech is herculean?
Herculean is an adjective.
How do you pronounce herculean?
Herculean is pronounced /hɜːɹˈkjuːliən/ (US).

Words near herculean in the dictionary

  1. Hercs
  2. Herculanean
  3. Herculaneans
  4. Herculaneum
  5. Hercule Poirot
  6. herculean
  7. Hercules
  8. Hercules ant
  9. Hercules ants
  10. Hercules beetle
  11. Hercules beetles

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: herculean (page history and authors); Herculean (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Herculean.wav.

Cite this entry: “herculean.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/herculean. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.