Adjacent Words

Difficulty definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DIFFICULTY, n. [L.]
1. Hardness to be done or accomplished; the state of any thing which renders its performance laborious or perplexing; opposed to easiness or facility; as the difficulty of a task or enterprise; a work of labor and difficulty.
2. That which is hard to be performed or surmounted. We often mistake difficulties for impossibilities. To overcome difficulties is an evidence of a great mind.
3. Perplexity; embarrassment of affairs; trouble; whatever renders progress or execution of designs laborious. We lie under many difficulties, by reason of bad markets, or a low state of trade.
4. Objection; obstacle to belief; that which cannot be easily understood, explained or believed, Men often raise difficulties concerning miracles and mysteries in religion, which candid research will remove.
5. In a popular sense, bodily complaints; indisposition.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: an effort that is inconvenient; "I went to a lot of trouble"; "he won without any trouble"; "had difficulty walking"; "finished the test only with great difficulty" [syn: trouble, difficulty]
2: a factor causing trouble in achieving a positive result or tending to produce a negative result; "serious difficulties were encountered in obtaining a pure reagent"
3: a condition or state of affairs almost beyond one's ability to deal with and requiring great effort to bear or overcome; "grappling with financial difficulties"
4: the quality of being difficult; "they agreed about the difficulty of the climb" [syn: difficulty, difficultness] [ant: ease, easiness, simpleness, simplicity]

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural -ties) Etymology: Middle English difficulte, from Anglo-French & Latin; Anglo-French difficulté, from Latin difficultas, from difficilis not easy, from dis- + facilis easy — more at facile Date: 14th century 1. the quality or state of being difficult 2. controversy, disagreement 3. objection 4. something difficult ; impediment 5. embarrassment, trouble — usually used in plural

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (pl. -ies) 1 the state or condition of being difficult. 2 a a difficult thing; a problem or hindrance. b (often in pl.) a cause of distress or hardship (in financial difficulties; there was someone in difficulties in the water). Phrases and idioms: make difficulties be intransigent or unaccommodating. with difficulty not easily. Etymology: ME f. L difficultas (as DIS-, facultas FACULTY)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Difficulty Dif"fi*cul*ty, n.; pl. Difficulties. [L. difficultas, fr. difficilis difficult; dif- = dis- + facilis easy: cf. F. difficult['e]. See Facile.] 1. The state of being difficult, or hard to do; hardness; arduousness; -- opposed to easiness or facility; as, the difficulty of a task or enterprise; a work of difficulty. Not being able to promote them [the interests of life] on account of the difficulty of the region. --James Byrne. 2. Something difficult; a thing hard to do or to understand; that which occasions labor or perplexity, and requires skill and perseverance to overcome, solve, or achieve; a hard enterprise; an obstacle; an impediment; as, the difficulties of a science; difficulties in theology. They lie under some difficulties by reason of the emperor's displeasure. --Addison. 3. A controversy; a falling out; a disagreement; an objection; a cavil. Measures for terminating all local difficulties. --Bancroft. 4. Embarrassment of affairs, especially financial affairs; -- usually in the plural; as, to be in difficulties. In days of difficulty and pressure. --Tennyson. Syn: Impediment; obstacle; obstruction; embarrassment; perplexity; exigency; distress; trouble; trial; objection; cavil. See Impediment.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(difficulties) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. A difficulty is a problem. ...the difficulty of getting accurate information... The country is facing great economic difficulties. N-COUNT 2. If you have difficulty doing something, you are not able to do it easily. Do you have difficulty getting up?... 3. If you are in difficulty or in difficulties, you are having a lot of problems. PHRASE: v-link PHR

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Arduousness. 2. Obstacle, impediment, bar, obstruction, barrier, hindrance, trouble, perplexity, exigency, trial, dilemma, embarrassment, emergency, pinch, predicament, fix, pickle, stand, dead-set, set fast, dead-lock, dead-stand, stand-still, horns of a dilemma, up-hill work, sea of troubles, peck of troubles, hard row to hoe, hard nut to crack. 3. Objection, cavil, obstacle to belief. 4. Embroilment, complication, controversy, misunderstanding, difference.

Moby Thesaurus

Gordian knot, abstruseness, adverse circumstances, adversity, affliction, aggravation, agreement to disagree, altercation, annoyance, arduousness, asperity, bad news, bedevilment, beef, bickering, blight, block, blockade, bore, bother, botheration, bothersomeness, bottleneck, bummer, burden, burthen, care, cargo, catch, challenge, charge, complexity, complication, controversy, cordon, crabbedness, crampedness, crashing bore, cross, cross-purposes, cumbrance, curse, curtain, deadweight, deepness, demurral, demurrer, determent, deterrent, devilment, difference, difference of opinion, difficulties, dilemma, disadvantage, disagreement, disparity, dispute, distress, dividedness, division, dogging, downer, drag, drawback, embarrassment, emergency, encumbrance, esoterica, exasperation, exigency, falling-out, fight, fix, formidableness, freight, hamper, handicap, hang-up, harassment, hard knocks, hard life, hard lot, hardcase, hardness, hardship, harrying, hassle, hazard, headache, heavy sledding, hindrance, hitch, hot water, hounding, hurdle, impediment, impedimenta, imposition, inconvenience, intricacy, irritation, jam, joker, knottiness, laboriousness, load, lumber, mess, misunderstanding, molestation, nuisance, objection, obstacle, obstruction, obstructive, odds, one small difficulty, onus, pack, painfulness, pass, penalty, persecution, pest, pickle, pinch, pitfall, plight, polarization, predicament, pressure, problem, profoundness, profundity, protest, quandary, question, reconditeness, remonstrance, remonstration, rigor, rub, scrape, sea of troubles, snag, squabble, strain, strait, straits, stress, stress of life, stumbling block, stumbling stone, trial, tribulation, trouble, troubles, vale of tears, variance, vexation, vexatiousness, vicissitude, vigor, weight, white elephant, worriment, worry