Standard Lemma guide

labor-intensive

adj · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

adj

Meaning 1

Requiring a great deal of work, especially physical and manual effort versus capital.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US

Examples

  • Picking beans is a very labor-intensive activity, there's no machine made that can do it.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective satellite

Meaning 2

requiring a large expenditure of labor but not much capital

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • cottage industries are labor intensive

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: labour-intensive

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From labor + intensive. Compare work-intensive.

Across languages

Translations

16 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Belarusian: працаёмкі (pracajómki) — requiring a great deal of work
  • Chinese Mandarin: 勞動密集型 /劳动密集型 (láodòng mìjíxíng) — requiring a great deal of work
  • Danish: arbejdsintensiv — requiring a great deal of work
  • Danish: arbejdskraftintensiv — requiring a great deal of work
  • Dutch: arbeidsintensief — requiring a great deal of work
  • Finnish: työintensiivinen — requiring a great deal of work
  • German: arbeitsintensiv — requiring a great deal of work
  • Greek: εντάσεως εργασίας (entáseos ergasías) — requiring a great deal of work
  • Greek: έντασης εργασίας (éntasis ergasías) — requiring a great deal of work
  • Hungarian: munkaigényes — requiring a great deal of work
  • Indonesian: padat karya — requiring a great deal of work
  • Malay: intensif buruh — requiring a great deal of work
  • Polish: pracochłonny — requiring a great deal of work
  • Russian: трудоёмкий (trudojómkij) — requiring a great deal of work
  • Swedish: arbetsintensiv — requiring a great deal of work
  • Ukrainian: трудомістки́й (trudomistkýj) — requiring a great deal of work
Real reading context

labor-intensive in complete knowledge articles