In Roman mythology, Hercules (or in Greek mythology, Heracles) is a hero who uses his supernatural strength and bravery to capture and slay monsters, among other feats.

For example, according to Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Hercules lifts a giant into the air and crushes him to death, throws some other giants down to the earth from the heavens, tears one mountain into two, drags around a three-headed monster, strangles a three-headed robber who spat flames, and cleans out some stables by diverting rivers to run through them to wash away the filth of 3,000 oxen that had accumulated for three decades.

So, since the 1500s, we've described things and people as Herculean (and, much more recently, "herculean" with a lowercase letter) when they seem to have or require a superhuman amount of strength and/or bravery.

Part of speech:

Adjective: "their herculean efforts;" "The task was herculean;" "She seems to have herculean strength."

Other forms: 

Should you capitalize this word? Sure, if you want to emphasize the comparison to the mythic hero Hercules. A lot of people do, and until recently, I was one of them! But it seems much more common these days to use the lowercase.

how to use it:

Pick the serious, literary, semi-common word "herculean" when you want to convey that some task demands an epic, mythic, superhuman amount of strength.

We most often talk about herculean tasks, jobs, feats, challenges, and efforts.

But you could also talk about someone's herculean patience or ambition, a herculean musical or athletic performance, or even herculean people.

This word is also great for exaggerating or kidding around, like the New York Times did here: "With so many episodes, watching 'Dark Shadows' is a herculean binge."

examples:

"This is the Crowninshield Garden, built as a neoclassical ruin almost a century ago and now a real one, left mostly untouched for more than six decades... Just to remove all the weeds and keep them at bay would be a herculean task."  
  — Adrian Higgins, Washington Post, 18 August 2021

"He had already started... making a modernist complex of abstract mounds, prismoids, arenas, ramps and pits... It was a herculean ambition that soon sent Michael down the rabbit hole. Too big and costly for one man, the project stalled." 
  — Michael Kimmelman, New York Times, 13 May 2015

has this page helped you understand "herculean"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "herculean" without saying "strenuous" or "mind-boggling."

try it out:

According to Joseph Berger, in 1966, after much of the Jewish Theological Seminary library was destroyed by fire and by the water used to extinguish it, the librarian Menahem Schmelzer "led a herculean effort to dry the water-damaged books by airing them out in the seminary courtyard, or by placing paper towels between the pages."

I can't even imagine how much time that took, and how much patience.

With this herculean task in mind as an example, could you give another example of some herculean task, project, or effort? It might be something that you personally accomplished, or something that you watched a friend or family member accomplish. Or it might be an example from history or fiction.

If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is "That's A New One!"

I'll define and describe an amusing term that Dictionary.com has recently embraced. See if you can come up with it, and if you need more hints, you can reveal them by highlighting the black bits. To see the answer, scroll all the way down. 

Try this one today:

According to Dictionary.com, it's "a right-handed person," often an athlete.

It entered English around the year 1895.

It's one word.

It's modeled after a similar-looking opposite word.

It starts with the letter... N.

Its number of syllables is...two.

Its first three letters are... NOR.

review this word:

1. One opposite of HERCULEAN is

A. AGELESS.
B. FLAWLESS.
C. EFFORTLESS.

2. According to Time, the actor Hugh Jackman said this about his father, a _____ parent: "What he did was herculean, to _____."

A. devoted .. raise us with love and discipline
B. single .. bring up five kids with a full-time job
C. steadfast .. watch every one of my movies when they came out

Answers to the review questions: 1. C 2. B From the game: northpaw, modeled after southpaw.

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.