different between burdensome vs momentous

English

Etymology

burden +? -some

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?b??.d?n.s?m/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?b?.d?n.s?m/

Adjective

burdensome (comparative more burdensome, superlative most burdensome)

1. Characteristic of a burden; arduous or demanding
   • 1748, David Hume, Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of morals, London: Oxford University Press (1973 ed.), § 6:

     . . . reap a pleasure from what, to the generality of mankind, may seem burdensome and laborious.

Synonyms

• (of or like a burden): arduous, demanding, exacting, onerous, taxing

Related terms

• burden

Derived terms

Translations

English

Etymology

From moment +? -ous.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /m???m?n.t?s/
• (US) IPA^(key): /mo??m?n.t?s/
• Rhymes: -?nt?s

Adjective

momentous (comparative more momentous, superlative most momentous)

1. Outstanding in importance, of great consequence.
   • 1725, Daniel Defoe, Everybody's Business is Nobody's Business:

     The reason why I did not publish this book till the end of the last sessions of parliament was, because I did not care to interfere with more momentous affairs.

   • 1831, James Fenimore Cooper, Homeward Bound, ch. 31:

     "It has been a momentous month, and I hope we shall all retain healthful recollections of it as long as we live."

   • 1902, Joseph Conrad, The End of the Tether, ch. 3:

     What to the other parties was merely the sale of a ship was to him a momentous event involving a radically new view of existence.

   • 2007 July 1, Richard Dawkins, "Inferior Design," New York Times (retrieved 19 Nov 2013):

     Natural selection is arguably the most momentous idea ever to occur to a human mind, because it — alone as far as we know — explains the elegant illusion of design that pervades the living kingdoms and explains, in passing, us.

Derived terms

• momentously
• momentousness

Translations

Anagrams

• mesonotum