Experts Answer Big Questions About AI And The Future
C1 English listening practice · American English · Curated for advanced learners
What does “drudgery” mean in English?
You might say “boring” — but drudgery goes further. It means work that is not just uninteresting but also tiring and hard to escape. It has no plural and no “a” before it. It fits home tasks, office routines, or any job where the same unwanted work repeats day after day. The word works in news articles, at work, and in normal conversation.
In this clip, an expert says AI will make “a lot of the drudgery of practicing law way easier” — meaning the slow, repetitive paperwork side of a lawyer’s job, not the smart, strategic thinking. That contrast shows the core meaning: drudgery is the part of work nobody wants but someone still has to do. A few more examples: - “Grading the same test fifty times is pure drudgery.” - “The drudgery of doing laundry never ends.” - “He loved writing but found the drudgery of editing exhausting.” It fits both everyday talk and more serious writing without sounding strange in either.
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Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-US 2012 (spoken). Buckets approximate; exact ranks not stored.