'Difficulty' definitions:
Definition of 'difficulty'
(from WordNet)
noun
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]
noun
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"
noun
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"
noun
The quality of being difficult; "they agreed about the difficulty of the climb" [syn: difficulty, difficultness] [ant: ease, easiness, simpleness, simplicity]
Definition of 'Difficulty'
From: GCIDE
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- Not being able to promote them [the interests of life] on account of the difficulty of the region. --James Byrne. [1913 Webster]
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- They lie under some difficulties by reason of the emperor's displeasure. --Addison. [1913 Webster]
- 3. A controversy; a falling out; a disagreement; an objection; a cavil. [1913 Webster]
- Measures for terminating all local difficulties. --Bancroft. [1913 Webster]
- 4. Embarrassment of affairs, especially financial affairs; -- usually in the plural; as, to be in difficulties. [1913 Webster]
- In days of difficulty and pressure. --Tennyson.
- Syn: Impediment; obstacle; obstruction; embarrassment; perplexity; exigency; distress; trouble; trial; objection; cavil. See Impediment. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'difficulty'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- 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,
- Gordian knot,
- 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