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drudgery

noun/ˈdrʌdʒəri/

B2CEFR level
45/100Rarity: uncommon
NeutralRegister

Hard, menial and dull work that requires effort but little skill.

Beneath the artistry of the finished violin lay months of unglamorous drudgery.

Similar: toil, grind, donkeywork

Origin: From 'drudge' (uncertain origin) + -ery.

Topic: toil in General English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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More general words: toil