plodding

adj, noun — 2 senses

adj

Progressing slowly and laboriously.

noun

Slow, laborious progress.

I'd count not wearisome / Long toil, nor enterprise, / But strain to reach it; aye, with wrestlings stout / And hopes that even in the dark will grow / (Like plants in dungeons, reaching feelers out), / And ploddings wary and slow.1863, Jean Ingelow, “Honors”, in Poems:
Many a game is won by mere steady plodding.1963 March, “Chess Quiz”, in Chess Review:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.