punishing meaning and definition

PUNISHING adjective

Definition of punishing (adjective)

1. resulting in punishment
   • "the king imposed a punishing tax"
2. characterized by 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"
   • synonyms: arduous, backbreaking, grueling, gruelling, hard, heavy, laborious, operose, toilsome