punishing

Etymology

adj

1. That punishes physically and/or mentally; arduous, gruelling, demanding.
   Upon Amelia's return from the West Coast in October, George presented her with a punishing schedule of lectures and appointments to promote the new book and solidify her position as America's foremost woman aviator. 2010, Kathleen C. Winters, Amelia Earhart: The Turbulent Life of an American Icon, St. Martin's Press, page 90
   Regardless of the punishing heat and physicality, restaurant cooking is a calling many Chinese chefs cannot deny. 2013, Grace Young, Alan Richardson, The Breath of a Wok, Simon and Schuster, page 100
   They took off at a punishing speed, making London in less than half a day. 2016, Tamara Gill, Only an Earl Will Do, Entangled: Select Historical
2. (figurative) Debilitating, harsh.
   1999, Edward Gonzalez, Richard Nuccio, Rand Corporation. National Security Research Division, The Rand Forum on Cuba, Rand Corp Others argued that the worst of all outcomes after 40 years of a punishing embargo would be for the United States to adopt policies that might extend the life of a dictatorial regime.
   Public debt of this magnitude can provoke punishing tax rates and crowd out private investment. 2010, Gary Clyde Hufbauer, Globalization at Risk, Yale University Press
   The apparent punishing effect of naloxone may be mediated through the withdrawal reaction that it produces[.] 2016, David J. Sanger, Derek E. Blackman, Aspects of Psychopharmacology, Routledge
   a punishing blow

noun

1. Punishment.
   We may not be convinced that God is as involved in historical punishings as the prophet claims, and we may have a strong negative reaction to the claims made for how God acts[…] 2011, Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore, The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Practical Theology, page 303

verb

1. present participle and gerund of punish