Herculean

Adjective

 * 1) Of extraordinary difficulty, might, power, size, etc.; of or relating to Hercules in size or strength.
 * 2) * 1607, Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, i 3:
 * But this is not the best:--look, pr'ythee, Charmian, / How this Herculean Roman does become / The carriage of his chafe.
 * 1) * Bertram Fields:
 * It was truly a Herculean effort. I never thought it was going to happen, but it did.
 * 1) Requiring a huge amount of work, as a Herculean labour, a Herculean task.
 * 2) * 1748, Tobias George Smollett, The Adventures of Roderick Random
 * He replied in a dry manner, that I would find it a Herculean task to chastise everybody who should laugh at my expense;
 * 1) * 2006: Jeremy Clarkson, Top Gear, commenting on the Bugatti Veyron
 * The guys at Volkswagen have a Herculean task.

Adverbs for Herculean
distressingly; arduously; obscurely; obviously; evidently; notably; desperately; formidably; toilsomely; laboriously; operosely; stoutly; gigantically; hardily; overwhelmingly; robustly; irresistibly; inexhaustibly; wirily; unconquerably; invincibly; astonishingly; remarkably; inexpressibly; admirably; wondrously; enormously; onerously; extraordinarily; tremendously.

Thesaurus
Antaean, Atlantean, Briarean, Brobdingnagian, Cyclopean, Gargantuan, Homeric, abstruse, abysmal, arduous, astronomic, backbreaking, brutal, burdensome, colossal, complex, critical, crushing, delicate, demanding, difficile, difficult, effortful, elephantine, enormous, epic, exacting, forced, formidable, gargantuan, giant, giantlike, gigantic, grueling, hairy, hard, hard-earned, hard-fought, heavy, hefty, heroic, huge, immense, infinite, intricate, jawbreaking, jumbo, killing, knotted, knotty, labored, laborious, mammoth, mean, mighty, monster, monstrous, monumental, mountainous, no picnic, not easy, onerous, operose, oppressive, painful, prodigious, profound, punishing, rigorous, rough, rugged, set with thorns, severe, spiny, steep, strained, strenuous, stupendous, thorny, ticklish, titanic, toilsome, tough, towering, tremendous, tricky, troublesome, uphill, vast, wearisome, wicked

Alternative forms

 * Herculæan
 * herculean

Etymology
see Hercules

Translations

 * French: herculéen, herculéenne (2)