backbreaking
- s characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion; especially physical effort
- To replace the backbreaking wooden chairs on the convention floor, the Democratic National Committee has latched onto 2,500 softly cushioned seats from the defunct Paradise .
- Mummies from a rural oasis provide a rare window onto the brief, backbreaking lives of ordinary Egyptians 2,000 years ago.
- Without the groundbreaking -- and backbreaking -- efforts of Louis, Mary and Richard, the story of how we evolved would still be largely untold.