- of or like Sisyphus
- endless and toilsome, useless, etc.: a Sisyphean task
Origin of Sisyphean
from Classical Latin Sisypheius from Classical Greek Sisypheios from Sisyphos + -an
The Sisyphean task of doing laundry for a large family is exhausting.
The definition of sisyphean is a task that is endless and cannot ever be completed.
An example of a Sisyphean task is a task that will never be done no matter how long you work at it.
YourDictionary definition and usage example. Copyright © 2018 by LoveToKnow Corp
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Sisyphean
Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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"Sisyphean." YourDictionary. LoveToKnow. www.yourdictionary.com/Sisyphean.
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Sisyphean. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Sisyphean
Sisyphean
adjective
- Of or relating to Sisyphus.
- Endlessly laborious or futile: “The jumble of wet pans and platters … made him weary; to dry them seemed a task as Sisyphean as to repair the things wrong with his parents' house” ( Jonathan Franzen )
Origin of Sisyphean
From Latin Sisyphēius from Greek Sisupheios from Sisuphos SisyphusTHE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"Sisyphean." YourDictionary. LoveToKnow. www.yourdictionary.com/Sisyphean.
APA Style
Sisyphean. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Sisyphean
Sentence Examples
- People often put in tremendous amounts of energy trying to save their relationship, and releasing themselves from that Sisyphean task may actually feel good.