heavy going
Tough to progress
Heavy going describes something difficult or tedious to get through.
The phrase comes from horseback riding and travel, where heavy going meant muddy or waterlogged terrain that slowed progress.
Now it applies to any laborious experience: The first hundred pages were heavy going, but the novel picked up after that.
A dense textbook, a dull lecture, or a sluggish conversation can all be heavy going.
Demanding strenuous effort
- challengingHard to accomplish
- taxingRequiring great effort
- demandingRequiring great effort
- toughDurable and strong
grueling · laborious · onerous · burdensome · exhausting · strenuous · formidable · daunting
Closely packed together
- impenetrableImpossible to pass through
- obscureUnknown to most
- convolutedExcessively complex or twisted
- intricateElaborately detailed, many parts
complicated · knotty · thorny · abstruse · opaque · turgid · dry · tedious
arduous
Demanding strenuous effort
- challengingHard to accomplish
- taxingRequiring great effort
- demandingRequiring great effort
tough · grueling · laborious · onerous · burdensome · exhausting · strenuous · formidable · daunting · uphill
dense
Closely packed together
- impenetrableImpossible to pass through
- obscureUnknown to most
- convolutedExcessively complex or twisted
intricate · complicated · knotty · thorny · abstruse · opaque · turgid · dry · tedious · difficult
plodding
Moving slowly, heavily
dragging · labored · sluggish · halting · faltering · stalled · bogged down · mired · stuck · grinding
heavy goingsmooth sailing
Untroubled progress forward
plain sailing · easy going · a breeze · a walk in the park · child's play
heavy goingpage-turner
Compulsively readable book
breezy · accessible · engaging · unputdownable · gripping