millstone

noun/ˈmɪlˌstoʊn/

Frequency rank: #18,233 of 20,003 in the WORDED list (wordfreq data)

Meaning

a heavy burden that makes progress or success very difficult; also literally a large flat stone used to grind grain.

Illustration for the English word “millstone”

Example sentence

The debt he carried felt like a heavy millstone around his neck, dragging him down every day.

Synonyms & related words

More words in ranks 18,201–18,300