making hard work of

Verb

make hard work of (third-person singular simple present makes hard work of, present participle making hard work of, simple past and past participle made hard work of)

1. (idiomatic) To do (something) in a way that makes it more difficult than it needs to be.
   • The motion is from the shoulder rather than from the elbow, moving the whole arm, and there is no need to make hard work of it.1895, Wisconsin Farmers' Institutes, A Hand-book of Agriculture, page 196
2. (idiomatic) To struggle to accomplish something.
   • For arithmetic to-day, as the pupils made hard work of the examples yesterday, I changed only the numbers.1891, John Pancoast Gordy, Rise and Growth of the Normal-school Idea in the United States, page 80