Burdensome means difficult to carry, deal with, or endure because of being heavy, complicated, or demanding. When something is burdensome, it weighs you down, either literally or figuratively.

A backpack stuffed with textbooks can be physically burdensome, making your shoulders ache on the walk home. But more often, the word describes tasks, responsibilities, or rules that feel overwhelming. A teacher might assign so much homework that it becomes burdensome, eating up your entire evening. A set of overly complicated rules for a school project might be so burdensome that you spend more time figuring out what's allowed than actually doing the work.

The word often appears when people discuss laws, regulations, or requirements. Citizens might complain that paying taxes is burdensome when the forms are confusing and take hours to complete. A small business owner might find government regulations burdensome when there's too much paperwork.

Burdensome suggests that something creates an excessive or unfair load. One chore isn't burdensome, but ten chores when you also have a science project due might be.