Sisyphean task
Never-ending futile effort
A Sisyphean task is work that is endlessly repetitive and futile—labor that must be repeated indefinitely without progress or completion.
The phrase comes from Sisyphus, a figure in Greek mythology condemned to roll a boulder up a hill for eternity, only to watch it roll back down each time he neared the summit: Keeping the inbox at zero felt like a Sisyphean task.
- futileIncapable of producing results
- endlessWithout termination or boundary
- never endingContinuing without stop
- boulderLarge weathered stone
- rolling stoneNomad by nature
uphill · uphill battle · struggle · laborious · hard labor · pointless · fool's errand · exhausting · repetitive · hamster wheel · running in place · thankless · grueling · daily grind · hopeless · lost cause · mountain · pushing
- Mythological WordsAchilles heel, Adonis, aegis, ambrosia, Apollo
- Futile Effortslost causes, wild goose chase, fool's errand, dead end, waste of time
- Absurdist WorksWaiting for Godot, Rhinoceros, Happy Days, meaninglessness, Catch-22
- AllusionsAchilles heel, Pandora's box, Trojan horse, forbidden fruit, Midas touch
- futilityfutile, futility, in vain, pointlessness, vain
- Historical AllusionsTrojan horse, Achilles heel, Pyrrhic victory, crossing the Rubicon, Pandora's box
Sisyphean tasklabor of love
Work done for fulfillment, not payment
meaningful work · productive labor · magnum opus · life's work · calling
Sisyphean taskpiece of cake
Idiomatic easy task
walk in the park · cakewalk · child's play · breeze · cinch
Sisyphus, Sisyphean, task, tasks, tasked, tasking, taskmaster, multitask, multitasking