hard labour
Backbreaking physical punishment
Hard labour is a form of criminal punishment requiring physically demanding work—breaking rocks, digging, or other exhausting tasks—typically while imprisoned.
The British spelling; Americans write hard labor.
The sentence emphasizes punishment through grueling exertion rather than mere confinement: He was sentenced to five years' hard labour.
- digUnearth by shoveling
- forcedMade to occur unwillingly
- painstakingExtremely careful and thorough
- arduousDemanding strenuous effort
- toilStrenuous, prolonged effort
backbreaking · chain gang · work gang · ball and chain · exhausting · grueling · penal servitude · drudgery · galleys · incarceration · doing time · prison sentence · manual · sentence · strenuous · punishment · penitentiary · imprisonment
- prison campsconcentration camp, prison camps, gulags, internment camp, internment
hard labourdesk job
Seated indoor employment
desk duty · office work · desk work · light work · paperwork
hard labourlight work
Undemanding task
rest · leisure · relaxation · ease · sinecure
hard labourprobation
Supervised trial period
suspended sentence · community service · house arrest · minimum security · fine
hard, labour, harder, hardest, harden, hardened, hardening, hardness, hardship