1
general::
tiring
making you feel that you want to sleep or rest:
• The journey was really tiring. • I’ve had such a tiring day. • It was tiring work.
exhausting
extremely tiring:
• I had to drive nine hours without a break – it was exhausting. • an exhausting week of singing, acting, and dancing
hard
very tiring and difficult – used about days, journeys etc:
• a hard day at work • The last part of the journey was very hard.
wearing
tiring because you have to use a lot of your mental energy, and often become bored – used about people, situations etc:
• I find her constant questions rather wearing. • Kids of that age can be very wearing. • His films always tend to have the same plots, which does get rather wearing after a while.
gruelling
British English , grueling American English ( also punishing ) very tiring physically or mentally – used when you have to keep doing something for a long time:
• a gruelling journey across the desert • a gruelling race • a punishing schedule • a punishing exercise regime
backbreaking
backbreaking work is extremely tiring and needs a lot of physical effort:
• Clearing the land was slow backbreaking work. • Laborers were paid $2 a day for backbreaking farm work.
something is a killer
informal used when saying that something is extremely tiring:
• Today was a real killer.
fatiguing
formal making you feel very tired:
• Factory work was repetitive and fatiguing.
Longman-Thesaurus