effortful

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈɛfərtfəl/ UK /ˈɛfətfʊl/ See IPA manual

adj

Meanings

1

adj
requiring or showing great effort or exertion

His effortful smile betrayed how exhausted he truly was.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · requiring or showing great... laborious strenuous arduous painstaking demanding exerting

Opposites

effortless easy facile

Word family

Derived forms effortfullyeffortfulness

Related forms effort effortless

Etymology

From effort (from Old French esfort, from esforcier 'to force', from Vulgar Latin *exfortiāre, from Latin ex- + fortis 'strong') + -ful.

esfort Old French fortis Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

# effortful

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** ˈɛfərtfəl
**IPA (UK):** ˈɛfətfʊl

## Meanings
1. requiring or showing great effort or exertion

## Examples
- His effortful smile betrayed how exhausted he truly was.

## Synonyms
- laborious
- strenuous
- arduous
- painstaking
- demanding
- exerting

## Antonyms
- effortless
- easy
- facile

## Derived Forms
- effortfully
- effortfulness

## Related Forms
- effort
- effortless

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: esfort
- Root: fortis

## Etymology
From effort (from Old French esfort, from esforcier 'to force', from Vulgar Latin *exfortiāre, from Latin ex- + fortis 'strong') + -ful.

## AI Etymology
Effortful comes from effort (from Old French esfort, from esforcier 'to force', from Vulgar Latin *exfortiāre, from Latin ex- + fortis 'strong') + -ful. The etymological trail includes Old French esfort and Latin fortis. As an adjective, effortful describes what is requiring or showing great effort or exertion. The same family is visible in derived forms such as effortfully and effortfulness and related forms such as effort and effortless. The analysis is partly morphological, with the modern form built from the elements named in the history.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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effortful

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