Laborious — A Vocabulary Story
The Lighthouse Keeper's Apprentice
On the windswept cliffs of County Clare, Ireland, twelve-year-old Paulo had begged his aunt Sonia for a summer job. She was the lighthouse keeper at Loop Head, and Paulo imagined the role would be glamorous: gazing out to sea, spotting whales, perhaps rescuing a sailor or two.
His first morning shattered that illusion.
"Polish every brass fitting," Sonia instructed, handing him a rag and a tin of cleaner. "Then sweep the spiral staircase. All one hundred and three steps."
Paulo groaned. The work was laborious, and his arms ached before he'd finished the first landing. By midday, he was convinced no job had ever been so laborious in human history.
Laborious means requiring great effort and time. It also means slow and painstaking.
"Why does it have to be this laborious?" he complained, collapsing onto a step.
Sonia smiled and sat beside him. "When I started, I asked the same question. My mentor told me something I've never forgotten: laborious work teaches patience, and patience saves lives. A keeper who rushes misses the cracked lens or the flickering bulb."
That evening, as the great lamp swept its beam across the churning Atlantic, Paulo noticed a frayed wire near the base — something he'd have overlooked yesterday. Sonia repaired it immediately.
"Good eye," she said.
Paulo grinned. The laborious polishing suddenly felt purposeful. Perhaps slow, careful work wasn't dull after all. Perhaps it was the whole point.
Word Definition
laborious
meaning
requiring great effort and time; slow and painstaking
synonyms
arduous · strenuous · rigorous · hard · formidable
antonyms
easy · effortless · simple
example sentence
The laborious task of sorting through thousands of documents took the team several weeks.