Sisyphean

English 2007 January 15 thumb Alternative forms en Sisyphusean sisyphean Sisyphian Sysyphean en Sisyphic sisyphic sisiphic Etymology From en Sisyphus -ean, from en grc Σίσυφος. 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. Pronunciation sīs'əfēʹən, en /ˌsɪsəˈfiːən/ en En-us-Sisyphean.ogg US Adjective Requiring continual but futile effort. en herd cats like herding cats like painting the Forth Bridge en Sisyphean task en Sisyphean labors en Glimpses into the Abyss 1906 Mary Higgs https://www.gutenberg.org/files/40122/40122-h/40122-h.htm 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. en 2013-08-10 408 8848 w:The Economist http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21583270-new-zealands-plan-regulate-designer-drugs-better-trying-ban-them-and-failing-new A new prescription 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. https://web.archive.org/web/20200810112055/https://www.economist.com/leaders/2013/08/10/a-new-prescription en 7 September 2020 Adam Ragusea How refrigerators work, and how we all ended up with one Macon 0:14 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVDl2Z4sSVI https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/kVDl2Z4sSVI 15 September 2024 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. 2022-03-08 Lauren Smiley ‘I’m the Operator’: The Aftermath of a Self-Driving Tragedy https://www.wired.com/story/uber-self-driving-car-fatal-crash/ 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. https://web.archive.org/web/20220309012627/https://www.wired.com/story/uber-self-driving-car-fatal-crash/ Sam Graham-Felsen Where Have All My Deep Male Friendships Gone? 2025-05-25 https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/25/magazine/male-friendships.html I wasn’t cursed to some joyless Sisyphean slog. https://web.archive.org/web/20251109061921/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/25/magazine/male-friendships.html 9 November 2025 en Greek mythology Relating to Sisyphus. Derived terms en Sisyphean labour Translations incessant or incessantly recurring, but futile Bulgarian: bg сизифов Czech: cs sisyfovský Finnish: fi sisyfolainen French: fr sisyphéen, fr sisyphien German: de sisypheisch rare Hungarian: hu sziszifuszi Polish: pl syzyfowy Romanian: ro sisifian m n, ro sisific Russian: ru сизи́фов Slovene: sl Sizifov Spanish: es Ukrainian: uk сізі́фів Yiddish: yi סיזיפֿיש sizífish relating to Sisyphus Bulgarian: bg сизифов Finnish: fi sisyfolainen, fi Sisyfoon Hungarian: hu sziszifuszi Polish: pl syzyfowy Ukrainian: uk сізі́фів Yiddish: yi סיזיפֿיש sizífish en eponyms terms derived from Greek mythology