Drudgery is work that is hard and dull — the kind you do again and again until your body is tired and your head is bored. It is not just “a hard job.” Hard work can still feel important. Drudgery is the low, endless part: washing the same floors, copying the same numbers, carrying the same boxes. People use it when they want you to feel the weight of the work, not only hear that it is difficult. It is a little old-fashioned and a little bookish, but still alive. A parent may call housework drudgery; a student may call practice drudgery. You almost never use it for work that feels exciting, even when that work is also hard.