labored
Lacking natural ease
Labored describes something done with obvious effort or difficulty.
Labored breathing is strained and effortful.
A labored explanation feels forced and unnatural, as if the speaker is working too hard.
The word often carries a negative sense—labored prose lacks flow, a labored joke falls flat.
In British English: laboured.
Requiring intense exertion
- arduousDemanding strenuous effort
- gruelingExtremely tiring and demanding
- taxingRequiring great effort
- painstakingExtremely careful and thorough
toilsome · backbreaking · demanding · intensive · onerous · burdensome · cumbersome · uphill
Deliberately manufactured, unnatural
- artificialMade, not natural
- unnaturalContrary to normal order
- stiltedUnnaturally formal in expression
- affectedArtificially contrived behavior
stiff · awkward · overwrought · studied · mannered · wooden · mechanical · self-conscious
strenuous
Requiring intense exertion
painstaking · toilsome · backbreaking · demanding · intensive · onerous · burdensome · cumbersome · uphill · heavy
contrived
Deliberately manufactured, unnatural
- artificialMade, not natural
- unnaturalContrary to normal order
- stiltedUnnaturally formal in expression
affected · stiff · awkward · overwrought · studied · mannered · wooden · mechanical · self-conscious · heavy-handed
strained
Under uncomfortable tension
raspy · hoarse · breathless · constricted · shallow · rattling · heavy · difficult · asthmatic · halting
exhausted
Utterly depleted of energy
drained · spent · flagging · overtaxed · overworked · plodding · struggling · trudging · dragging · sluggish
- breathingbreathing, inhalation, breath, exhalation, breathe
- motionmotion, movement, velocity, speed, momentum
- clumsyclumsy, awkward, bumbling, bungling, fumbling
- heavy synonymsweighty, massive, hefty, ponderous, leaden
- slownessslow, sluggish, leisurely, unhurried, crawl
- pressed onpressed on, pushed on, persisted, persevered, continued
- manual laborWork done bodily
- compulsory laborWork required by law
- labor painsChildbirth's physical distress
- child laborMinors performing paid work
- labor protestOrganized worker demonstration
- hard laborStrenuous punitive work
labor, laborer, laboring, laboratory, laborers, laborious, labors, laboriously, laboriousness