burdenous Q Burdenous is more than merely a variant of burdensome. It is as rich and richly melodious a variant as it is ignored in present-day dictionaries. Relying on the flippant present-day, where appreciation of language is disparaged as not contributing to the day's bottom line, burdenous is said to be at most a synonym of burdensome. Burdensome, in turn, is said to mean merely "of or like a burden; onerous." Turning to Webster's 1828 edition, burdenous is found in its full glory, to mean "grievous; heavy to be borne; oppressive." 021127 ... daxle the purpose of language is to communicate effectively. humans evolve language to suit what they need out of it. antiguated definitions and rules will not get us anywhere. 021127 what's it to you? who go blather from