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What is the Difference Between onerous, burdensome, oppressive?
Not to go too heavy on the etymology, but the story behind onerous is at once straightforward and, dare we say, poetic. But perhaps that’s putting the cart before the horse. Onerous rolled into the English language during the 14th century, via Middle French, from the Latin adjective onerosus, "burdensome." That word, in turn, was hitched to the noun onus, meaning "burden" (source too of our word onus, which usually refers to a burden or responsibility). Onus shares an ancient root with the Sanskrit word anas, meaning "cart." So although onerous stresses a sense of laboriousness and often figurative heaviness (especially because something is distasteful, e.g. "the onerous task of cleaning up the mess"), it has a deep connection with a literal weight borne by a person, horse, or other beast of burden.
Synonyms
Examples of onerous in a Sentence
Sharon Begley, Newsweek, 23 June 2008
The first hitch occurred when the state education department took a full six months after the new law was adopted to issue 12 pages of onerous rules and regulations governing Arkansas charter schools.
—Wendy Cole, Time, 10 June 2000
Environmentalism poses stark issues of survival, for humankind and for all those other tribes of creatures over which we have exercised our onerous dominion.
—Marilynne Robinson, The Death of Adam, 1998
Rap tested well, but early on the promoters said they wouldn't be booking any gangsta rap, a move at least partly designed to calm security concerns during the onerous process of complying with the strict mass-gathering laws enacted in the wake of the 1969 festival.
—John Milward, Rolling Stone, 11 Aug. 1994
The government imposed onerous taxes on imports.
had the onerous and stressful job of notifying the families of soldiers killed in action
Sam Schulz, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Mar. 2024
Humanitarian officials say Israel has limited land entry points for supplies, enacted an onerous and confusing inspection process, and targeted civilian police tasked with protecting the convoys.
—Abigail Hauslohner, Washington Post, 15 Mar. 2024
Airbnb’s iconic origin story is an example of a launch that likely never would have happened under full compliance with AB 1757’s onerous requirements.
—Jordan McGillis, Orange County Register, 11 Mar. 2024
Many corporations argued that the regulations would be onerous and expensive, and fail to offer investors much useful information.
—David Gelles, New York Times, 6 Mar. 2024
Candidates who have officially filed at this point have met the onerous petition requirement: 500 signatures in each of Indiana's nine congressional districts.
—Kayla Dwyer, The Indianapolis Star, 8 Feb. 2024
This is a primary reason why the pre-requisites for space travel are incredibly nuanced and onerous, and why astronauts often have to undergo rigorous training before spending time in space.
—Sai Balasubramanian, M.d., J.d., Forbes, 27 Mar. 2024
Foreign direct investment in China has slumped in recent months as a combination of slower growth, regulatory crackdowns, onerous national security legislation and questions about the country’s long-term prospects have shaken confidence in the world’s second biggest economy.
—Laura He, CNN, 27 Mar. 2024
Inspections have been onerous UNRWA has said that convoluted Israeli inspections hold up aid.
—Gaya Gupta, New York Times, 20 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'onerous.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near onerous
Cite this Entry
“Onerous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/onerous. Accessed 20 Apr. 2024.
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