grueling adj : characterized by toilsome effort to the point of exhaustion; especially physical effort; "worked their arduous way up the mining valley"; "a grueling campaign"; "hard labor"; "heavy work"; "heavy going"; "spent many laborious hours on the project"; "set a punishing pace" [syn: {arduous}, {backbreaking}, {gruelling}, {hard}, {heavy}, {laborious}, {punishing}, {toilsome}]