as in difficult
requiring considerable physical or mental effort
the book's abstruse subject matter and dense prose make for effortful reading
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Recent Examples of effortful
Here’s irony for you: Uber, the company that disrupted the taxi industry by making rides nearly effortless, now faces an FTC lawsuit for making subscriptions too effortful to cancel.
—
Roger Dooley, Forbes.com, 26 Apr. 2025
Writing, too, is mirthless and effortful.
—Moira Donegan, New Yorker, 26 Mar. 2025
The director and star’s efforts may have lifted the German-language edition, but this static, lost-in-translation revamp just comes off as effortful, for little reward.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 26 Feb. 2025
Sometimes, stars on SNL are born of effortful attention-seeking.
—Dennis Perkins, EW.com, 16 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for effortful
Roger Dooley, Forbes.com, 26 Apr. 2025
Writing, too, is mirthless and effortful.
—Moira Donegan, New Yorker, 26 Mar. 2025
The director and star’s efforts may have lifted the German-language edition, but this static, lost-in-translation revamp just comes off as effortful, for little reward.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 26 Feb. 2025
Sometimes, stars on SNL are born of effortful attention-seeking.
—Dennis Perkins, EW.com, 16 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for effortful
Recent Examples of Synonyms for effortful
Adjective
-
Palace’s recruitment strategy depends on selling players, however difficult such deals are to stomach.—
Matt Woosnam,
New York Times,
22 Aug. 2025
-
The Chamber said the cancellation was a difficult decision but ultimately the best course of action.—
Addison Wright,
Chicago Tribune,
22 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Taking the most challenging courses available — like AP, IB, honors, or dual enrollment classes — signals preparedness for college-level work.—
Liz Doe Stone,
Forbes.com,
14 Aug. 2025
-
Getting the Supreme Court to take this case at all is going to be extremely challenging.—
Adam Sabes,
FOXNews.com,
13 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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There are any number of predictable ways this scenario might have developed but the film is rigorous in its rejection of clichés or simple fixes.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
28 Aug. 2025
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Students must fall below an income cap and meet Vanderbilt's rigorous admissions standards to get in.—
The Tennessean,
The Tennessean,
28 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
Leaves harvested after flowering may be tough and bitter.—
Karen Brewer Grossman,
Southern Living,
14 Aug. 2025
-
Breaking through as in independent act has never been tougher.—
James Hibberd,
HollywoodReporter,
14 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
Baldwin has done it while playing the most difficult and demanding position on the diamond, mentally in terms of daily meetings and film study, and physically from the toll of working beneath pads in the summer heat and getting nicked up from foul tips, collisions and occasional wayward swings.—
David O'Brien,
New York Times,
14 Aug. 2025
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This has come as a result of America being too demanding and being very political.—
Amira El-Fekki,
MSNBC Newsweek,
13 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Sandoval has received some pay bumps, including a temporary $10,000-a-year bonus for Hawaii special education teachers designed to alleviate shortages in that and other hard-to-staff areas.—
Alia Wong,
USA TODAY,
14 Feb. 2023
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Whether those numbers are an overstatement, or possibly an understatement, is hard to say.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes,
13 Feb. 2023
Cite this Entry
“Effortful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/effortful. Accessed 3 Sep. 2025.
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