punishing
Exhausting and severe
Punishing describes something that inflicts severe strain or hardship.
A punishing schedule exhausts you.
A punishing workout pushes physical limits.
Punishing heat or a punishing pace tests endurance.
The word emphasizes relentlessness—the thing keeps coming at you: The boxer absorbed punishing blows for twelve rounds.
Extremely tiring and demanding
- exhaustingDepleting one's stamina
- demandingRequiring great effort
- taxingRequiring great effort
- backbreakingExtremely physically demanding
laborious · onerous · burdensome · strenuous · fatiguing · toilsome · wearisome · draining
Unpleasantly severe or rough
- brutalSavagely harsh or severe
- mercilessShowing no clemency
- ruthlessLacking any compassion
- draconianExtremely harsh, especially laws
heavy-handed · unsparing · pitiless · stern · strict · stringent · oppressive · excessive
Confinement in jail
- imprisonmentLegal detention in jail
- confinementState of being restricted
- sentencingImposing legal punishment
- correctionalAimed at rehabilitation
penitentiary · reformatory · penology · deterrence · rehabilitation · parole · conviction · prosecution
Aimed at rehabilitation
- detentionTemporary official holding
- suspensionTemporary halt or exclusion
- expulsionForced permanent removal
- probationSupervised trial period
reprimand · censure · admonition · sanction · grounding · penance · chastisement · castigation
Retaliation for injury
- retributionPunishment for wrongdoing
- retaliationPunitive response to injury
- paybackRetaliation for wrongs
- reprisalPunitive action in return
comeuppance · requital · tit-for-tat · redress · reckoning · reciprocity · karmic · vindictive
grueling
Extremely tiring and demanding
- exhaustingDepleting one's stamina
- demandingRequiring great effort
- taxingRequiring great effort
backbreaking · laborious · onerous · burdensome · strenuous · fatiguing · toilsome · wearisome · draining · sapping
harsh
Unpleasantly severe or rough
draconian · heavy-handed · unsparing · pitiless · stern · strict · stringent · oppressive · excessive · extreme
incarceration
Confinement in jail
- imprisonmentLegal detention in jail
- confinementState of being restricted
- sentencingImposing legal punishment
correctional · penitentiary · reformatory · penology · deterrence · rehabilitation · parole · conviction · prosecution · judicial
correctional
Aimed at rehabilitation
- detentionTemporary official holding
- suspensionTemporary halt or exclusion
- expulsionForced permanent removal
probation · reprimand · censure · admonition · sanction · grounding · penance · chastisement · castigation · time-out
vengeance
Retaliation for injury
- retributionPunishment for wrongdoing
- retaliationPunitive response to injury
- paybackRetaliation for wrongs
reprisal · comeuppance · requital · tit-for-tat · redress · reckoning · reciprocity · karmic · vindictive · nemesis
- mistreatmentbullying, harassing, intimidating, oppressing, humiliating
- difficultyeasy, hard, medium, difficult, moderate
- exhaustingdraining, taxing, tiring, exhausting, fatiguing
- Work Intensitybusy, demanding, heavy, intense, grueling
- challengeschallenge, difficult, hard, challenging, tough
- oppressivestifling, suffocating, smothering, crushing, repressive
punishingeasy
Requiring minimal effort
effortless · undemanding · cushy · light · untaxing
punish, punishment, punished, punitive, punishes, punishable, punishments, unpunished, punisher