Herculean

adj.resilient, capableliterary

What it means

Requiring or showing extraordinary strength, effort, or determination.

Reach for it when praising work of exceptional scale without hiding the people and systems behind it

Cataloguing the flooded archive was a Herculean task completed by dozens of volunteers.

playful
superhuman
the achievement seems beyond ordinary capacity
not when Superhuman erases human limits and can normalize unreasonable expectations.
warm
heroic
courage and sacrifice deserve moral praise
not when Heroic can romanticize avoidable risk or unpaid overwork.
professional
formidable
the challenge is difficult enough to command respect
not when Formidable describes the obstacle, while Herculean often praises the effort used against it.
formal
arduous
the work is prolonged and demanding
not when Arduous stresses difficulty and not the extraordinary power of the response.
formal
monumental
scale and lasting significance are both exceptional
not when Monumental can describe importance without the strenuous effort implied by Herculean.
literary
colossal
physical or numerical scale dominates the description
not when Colossal can describe a large failure and says nothing about determined effort.
literary
prodigious
the amount of ability, labor, or output inspires wonder
not when Prodigious can praise natural capacity and need not involve hardship.

Herculean task
The Herculean task became manageable after the records were divided by district.
Herculean effort
A Herculean effort by care workers should not excuse chronic understaffing.
Herculean strength
The tale gives its builder Herculean strength and ordinary doubts.
seem Herculean
The move can seem Herculean until each accessible step has an owner.

The definition and the example on this page are written here. The dictionaries above ground which meaning is being described, not the wording.