operose

operose
    adj 1: characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion;
           especially physical effort; "worked their arduous way up
           the mining valley"; "a grueling campaign"; "hard labor";
           "heavy work"; "heavy going"; "spent many laborious hours
           on the project"; "set a punishing pace" [syn: {arduous},
           {backbreaking}, {grueling}, {gruelling}, {hard}, {heavy},
           {laborious}, {operose}, {punishing}, {toilsome}]
    

Operose \Op"er*ose`\ a. [L. operosus, fr. opera pains, labor,
   opus, operis, work, labor.]
   Wrought with labor; requiring labor; hence, tedious;
   wearisome. "Operose proceeding." --Burke. "A very operose
   calculation." --De Quincey. -- {Op"er*ose`ly}, adv. --
   {Op"er*ose`ness}, n.
   [1913 Webster]
    

64 Moby Thesaurus words for "operose":
      Herculean, abstruse, arduous, assiduous, backbreaking, brutal,
      burdensome, complex, critical, crushing, delicate, demanding,
      difficile, difficult, diligent, effortful, elaborate, exacting,
      forced, formidable, grueling, hairy, hard, hard-earned,
      hard-fought, heavy, hefty, industrious, intricate, jawbreaking,
      killing, knotted, knotty, labored, laborious, mean, no picnic,
      not easy, onerous, oppressive, painful, painstaking, punishing,
      rigorous, rough, rugged, sedulous, set with thorns, severe, spiny,
      steep, strained, strenuous, thorny, thorough, thoroughgoing,
      ticklish, toilsome, tough, tricky, troublesome, uphill, wearisome,
      wicked