Dictionary

Sisyphean en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• sīs'əfēʹən
• /ˌsɪsəˈfiːən/
• (US) audio

Etymology

From Sisyphus + -ean, from Ancient Greek Σίσυφος (Sísuphos). Sisyphus was a Greek mythical figure who was doomed to endlessly roll a boulder up a hill in Tartarus, only to have it roll back down again.

Meanings

1. (not-comparable) Incessant or incessantly recurring, but futile.
   • Fact is, this appliance actually contains some heaters in addition to its coolers. That apparent self-defeating contradiction is not a Sisyphean exercise in futility devised as a cruel philosophical joke by nihilistic engineers. It's actually just one of several brilliant pieces of engineering that have made these ubiquitous boxes utterly transformative forces in our lives. 2020 September 7, Adam Ragusea, 0:14 from the start, in How refrigerators work, and how we all ended up with one, Macon, archived from the original on 15 Sep 2024:
   • As the world's drug habit shows, governments are failing in their quest to monitor every London window-box and Andean hillside for banned plants. But even that Sisyphean task looks easy next to the fight against synthetic drugs. No sooner has a drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one. 2013 August 10, “A new prescription”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848, archived from the original on 10 Aug 2020:
   • Sisyphean task
   • Four bucketsful of water—one for each cell—seven for the long passage, two for lavatory and w.c.'s, brasses to clean, paint to dust. It seemed a Sisyphean task, no sooner ended than a new one was exacted. 1906, Mary Higgs, Glimpses into the Abyss:
   • But whoever does the policing, whether a supervisor or an operator, faces a Sisyphean battle against a well-documented phenomenon: something called automation complacency. When you automate any part of a task, the human overseer starts to trust that the machine has it handled and stops paying attention. 2022 March 8, Lauren Smiley, “‘I’m the Operator’: The Aftermath of a Self-Driving Tragedy”, in WIRED, archived from the original on 09 Mar 2022:
   • Sisyphean labors
   • I wasn’t cursed to some joyless Sisyphean slog. 2025 May 25, Sam Graham-Felsen, “Where Have All My Deep Male Friendships Gone?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 25 May 2025:
2. (Greek, not-comparable) Relating to Sisyphus.

Forms

Deriveds

Sisyphean labour

Synonyms

like painting the Forth Bridge · herd cats

Translations (21)

fi sisyfolainen (relating to Sisyphus) · uk сізі́фів (relating to Sisyphus) · fi sisyfolainen (incessant or incessantly recurring, but futile) · yi סיזיפֿיש (relating to Sisyphus) · ro sisific (incessant or incessantly recurring, but futile) · hu sziszifuszi (incessant or incessantly recurring, but futile) · bg сизифов (incessant or incessantly recurring, but futile) · de sisypheisch (incessant or incessantly recurring, but futile) · bg сизифов (relating to Sisyphus) · fr sisyphien (incessant or incessantly recurring, but futile) · pl syzyfowy (incessant or incessantly recurring, but futile) · sl Sizifov (incessant or incessantly recurring, but futile) · ru сизи́фов (incessant or incessantly recurring, but futile) · fi Sisyfoon (relating to Sisyphus) · hu sziszifuszi (relating to Sisyphus) · pl syzyfowy (relating to Sisyphus) · fr sisyphéen (incessant or incessantly recurring, but futile) · cs sisyfovský (incessant or incessantly recurring, but futile) · uk сізі́фів (incessant or incessantly recurring, but futile) · yi סיזיפֿיש (incessant or incessantly recurring, but futile) · ro sisifian (incessant or incessantly recurring, but futile)

wikipedia: Sisyphus · wikipedia: Tartarus · wikipedia: Sisyphean