If you want to present a challenging path a character in your book is taking, illustrate it using the following 10 words to describe a difficult journey.
1. Trying
Definition
Challenging or straining; reaching or surpassing one’s endurance.
Examples
“The journey was a long and trying one, and by the end of it, they were all relieved to have finally reached their destination.”
“After their trying journey there, they took a long, well-earned rest.”
How It Adds Description
If a journey is difficult, then that can require a serious test of endurance. Describing the journey as a trying one can emphasize how difficult the journey was. You can use this word with some flexibility as well since a journey could be physically or emotionally trying.
2. Long
Definition
Extending a significant distance or spanning a great length.
Examples
“Getting to the other side of the mountains would entail a long, difficult journey.”
“If they wanted to reach their destination in time, they knew they would have to head out on their long journey as soon as possible.”
How It Adds Description
There are a lot of things that can make a journey difficult, including the length of the journey itself. Putting your character on a long journey can add even more tension to your story and make it more rewarding when your character finally reaches their destination.
3. Onerous
Definition
Involving or imposing a burden.
Examples
“They all knew it would be a tiresome, onerous journey, so they made sure that they had packed all the supplies they would need.”
“She thought many times about giving up on her onerous journey, but she knew that what waited for her ahead would be worth all the trouble she had gone to.”
How It Adds Description
Onerous isn’t a word one sees often, so it can stand out to your readers. Seeing it can help to emphasize how much of a burden the adventure that your character is going on is to them.
4. Grueling
Definition
Punishing; difficult to the point of exhaustion.
Examples
“After their long, grueling journey, they rewarded themselves with a hearty meal and a long, restful sleep.”
“Getting to the other side of the map would without a doubt be a grueling task, but it was one that the entire team was up for.”
How It Adds Description
Want to ensure that your readers know difficult the journey is on your character? Use the word grueling. This word can emphasize that not only is the journey hard, but it feels close to a punishment.
5. Exhausting
Definition
Extremely tiring.
Examples
“Since they had to plan for such an exhausting journey, they spent a long time beforehand making sure that they would have all the supplies they needed.”
“When he started on the road, he had been keen and bright-eyed, but by the end of the exhausting and challenging journey, all he wanted to do was rest.”
How It Adds Description
Something that is exhausting is more than just a little tiring. Calling the journey exhausting will help to describe both the physical state as well as the mental state your character is in when the journey is finally done.
6. Uphill
Definition
Upward on an incline or hill; against challenges.
Examples
“The uphill journey left them feeling nothing but tired by the end of it.”
“She knew that what she would find at the end of the road would be worth it, but the uphill climb was going to make things that much more challenging.”
How It Adds Description
The word uphill can be used literally to describe an inclined terrain your character must go up. You can also use it metaphorically to demonstrate that your character must face other challenges along the way to their destination.
7. Formidable
Definition
Causing feelings of apprehension or dread; impressive of instilling feelings of wonder.
Examples
“He had no idea what he would find at the end of his formidable journey.”
“As she looked at the map in front of her, she considered what she would have to bring with her on such a formidable journey.”
How It Adds Description
If the journey that one of your characters is going on is quite daunting, then you can describe it as formidable. You can also use it in a slightly more positive sense to show that the journey inspires feelings of awe.
8. Intimidating
Definition
Causing a loss of confidence and inspiring feelings of timidity, fear, or anxiety.
Examples
“At first it had seemed like an easy adventure, but the more he thought about it, the more intimidating it became.”
“The map had seemed intimidating at the time, but now that she was well on her way, the road seemed much easier.”
How It Adds Description
If a journey looks like it’s going to be particularly long or hard, then it’s probably going to be pretty intimidating for the character going on it. This word will help describe the tension your character is experiencing.
9. Rough
Definition
Marked by difficult terrain; challenging to travel through or across; not easy.
Examples
“The journey would be a rough one, and would require packing several days’ worth of supplies.”
“They would follow the rough road all the way to the end.”
How It Adds Description
The word rough can be used to describe the actual terrain that your characters are traveling across. You can also use it to describe the journey itself, as calling something rough means that it is challenging or not easy.
10. Satisfying
Definition
Rewarding; causing feelings of contentment or pleasure by providing something needed.
Examples
“After such a difficult but satisfying journey, the team was rewarded with some good food and a few comfortable beds to sleep on.”
“She knew that despite all the challenges, the journey would be satisfying, especially once she reached the hidden treasure.”
How It Adds Description
A difficult journey doesn’t have to be entirely negative! When your character finally reaches the end of their road, they’re likely to find a lot of satisfaction. Describing the relief and reward your characters have achieved through this journey will make it feel satisfying to your readers as well.
The idea for the Describing Words engine came when I was building the engine for Related Words (it’s like a thesaurus, but gives you a much broader set of related words, rather than just synonyms). While playing around with word vectors and the «HasProperty» API of conceptnet, I had a bit of fun trying to get the adjectives which commonly describe a word. Eventually I realised that there’s a much better way of doing this: parse books!
Project Gutenberg was the initial corpus, but the parser got greedier and greedier and I ended up feeding it somewhere around 100 gigabytes of text files — mostly fiction, including many contemporary works. The parser simply looks through each book and pulls out the various descriptions of nouns.
Hopefully it’s more than just a novelty and some people will actually find it useful for their writing and brainstorming, but one neat little thing to try is to compare two nouns which are similar, but different in some significant way — for example, gender is interesting: «woman» versus «man» and «boy» versus «girl». On an inital quick analysis it seems that authors of fiction are at least 4x more likely to describe women (as opposed to men) with beauty-related terms (regarding their weight, features and general attractiveness). In fact, «beautiful» is possibly the most widely used adjective for women in all of the world’s literature, which is quite in line with the general unidimensional representation of women in many other media forms. If anyone wants to do further research into this, let me know and I can give you a lot more data (for example, there are about 25000 different entries for «woman» — too many to show here).
The blueness of the results represents their relative frequency. You can hover over an item for a second and the frequency score should pop up. The «uniqueness» sorting is default, and thanks to my Complicated Algorithm™, it orders them by the adjectives’ uniqueness to that particular noun relative to other nouns (it’s actually pretty simple). As you’d expect, you can click the «Sort By Usage Frequency» button to adjectives by their usage frequency for that noun.
Special thanks to the contributors of the open-source mongodb which was used in this project.
Please note that Describing Words uses third party scripts (such as Google Analytics and advertisements) which use cookies. To learn more, see the privacy policy.
Not journey or adventure.
Not crusade or expedition.
I’m not trying to insinuate purposeful / heroic.
I’m looking for a word relative to trial or crucible or calamity, but specific to a long and arduous journey.
Any ideas?
herisson
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asked Jan 9, 2018 at 20:32
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You could go straight to the classics and call it an odyssey — pretty much the defining work on long, arduous journeys.
Trek is also another good word to describe a long, and usually demanding, journey.
answered Jan 9, 2018 at 20:36
Nuclear HoagieNuclear Hoagie
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A a long and arduous journey reminds me of an ordeal.
- ordeal — (noun) a severe trial or experience, an experience that is very unpleasant or difficult. MW
Being trapped in an elevator was a harrowing ordeal…
- an extremely unpleasant experience, especially one that lasts for a long time. MD
They have suffered a terrible ordeal.
answered Jan 9, 2018 at 22:07
CentaurusCentaurus
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I think in this case, the word «Quest» fits pretty well. A quest often involves a difficult journey and trials to test one’s strength and person.
answered Jan 9, 2018 at 20:53
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You’ve already been offered trek, which is good — particularly in British English where it’s frequently used with a bit of humorous understatement as a bit of a trek. If that isn’t quite what you want, long hard slog is idiomatic.
answered Jan 9, 2018 at 23:17
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Как предполагают ученые, космический гелий проходит сложный путь:
That is all we ask, because for us the twenty-first century presents a difficult journey, and the United Nations is the compass that directs us towards a hopeful future.
Вот и все, что мы просим, поскольку для нас XXI век— это очень трудный путь, и Организация Объединенных Наций является тем компасом, который приведет нас к обнадеживающему будущему.
During this time, our nation has gone a glorious if difficult journey and preserved its belief in Allah
and great traditions,» Rustam Minnikhanov told the audience.
За это время наш народ прошел славный и нелегкий путь, сохранив веру в Аллаха и верность великим традициям»,-
отметил Рустам Нургалиевич.
True, this is the first time that they made the difficult journey from Vienna to Kyzyl in winter.
И если Изольда второй раз в Туве, то супруги- уже в шестой! Правда, впервые в зимнее время проделали нелегкий путь из Вены до Кызыла.
inexpress ibly tormented by the omnipresent orchestra accompanying the deep bass who was singing of his love for Tatyana.
И на всем его трудном пути невыразимо почему-то мучил вездесущий оркестр,
под аккомпанемент которого тяжелый бас пел о своей любви к Татьяне.
The Israel-PLO agreement is, however,
only the first step in what will be a long and difficult journey to peace.
Однако соглашение между Израилем и ООП- это лишь первый шаг на долгом и трудном пути к миру.
CARICOM States have been persistent in their appeal to the international
community to stay the course with Haiti in the long and difficult journey ahead.
Государства- члены КАРИКОМ неустанно призывали международное
сообщество не ослаблять поддержку Гаити в ее долгом и трудном пути вперед.
it was even more so in 329 B.C.
оно находилось even more более так в 329 B. C.
Один не может сделать это без участия другого теперь, когда они вместе вступают на этот трудный путь.
Search for weight loss Buddy-
Find a partner will serve as a support system in your long and difficult journey to fitness.
Поиск по снижению веса Buddy-
Найти партнера будет служить поддержкой системы в вашей долгой и сложной Путешествие к фитнесу.
Local journalists in Assab reported that seven of the deportees are currently in the Assab hospital recovering from heat exhaustion,
dehydration and other conditions associated with the difficult journey.
Местные журналисты в Ассабе сообщают, что семь депортированных находятся в настоящее время в больнице Ассабы, куда они попали, обессиленные от
жары, обезвоживания и других последствий, связанных с трудным переходом.
When the King summoned me, I knew there was
only one man I could trust to navigate this difficult journey… my little brother.
Когда король призвал меня, я знал, что могу доверить это сложное путешествие только одному человеку… моему братишке.
Organizers of the International Tourism Fair Travel confront an important task- to show all guests show that eco-tourism-
Организаторы Международной Туристической Ярмарки
Путешествий
ставят перед собой важную задачу- показать всем Гостям выставки, что экологический туризм-
Resort to the use of the word cooperation, first in the Charter of the United Nations, later in most of the documents emanating from the Organization,
is the main indication that solidarity has undergone a long and difficult journey.
Использование слова» сотрудничество» сначала в Уставе Организации Объединенных Наций, а затем в большинстве документов, принятых этой организацией, является главным свидетельством того,
что концепция солидарности прошла длинный и трудный путь.
I say»satisfaction» because the purpose of these meetings
is to complete the last stage of the long and difficult journey that began with the welcome initiative taken by the Secretary-General
in 1990 in embarking on informal consultations on the Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Я говорю» удовлетворение» потому, что
целью этих заседаний является завершение последнего этапа длинного и трудного пути, начатого предпринятой Генеральным секретарем в 1990 году
похвальной инициативой приступить к проведению неофициальных консультаций по Конвенции по морскому праву.
Speaking at the first‘Shimon Peres Peace Lecture’, former UK Prime
Minister, Tony Blair, spoke of the long and difficult journey peace talks often take, warning
that peace can only take place if both parties are willing.
Произнося речь на первой« Лекции мира Шимона Переса» бывший премьер-министр Великобритании
Тони Блэр обратил внимание на долгий и тернистый путь, которым обычно продвигаются мирные переговоры,
предупредив, что мир может наступить только тогда, когда этого хотят обе стороны.
Our march out of the abyss of poverty and deprivation into the realm of progress and prosperity is going to be a long one,
and that is why we need members to partner us on this difficult journey.
Наш путь из бездны нищеты и обездоленности в эру прогресса и процветания будет долгим, и поэтому нам надо,
чтобы члены Организации сопутствовали нам в этом трудном походе.
United Nations peacekeeping held a central place in the maintenance of international peace and security and had proved to be one
of the Organization’s most efficient tools for helping countries make the difficult journey from conflict to peace.
Миротворческие операции Организации Объединенных Наций играют центральную роль в поддержании международного мира и безопасности, являясь одним из наиболее эффективных инструментов,
имеющихся в распоряжении Организации для оказания помощи странам в осуществлении сложного перехода от конфликта к миру.