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difficult - 4 dictionary results

dif⋅fi⋅cult

  [dif-i-kuhlt, -kuhlt]
Use difficult in a Sentence
–adjective
1. not easily or readily done; requiring much labor, skill, or planning to be performed successfully; hard: a difficult job.
2. hard to understand or solve: a difficult problem.
3. hard to deal with or get on with: a difficult pupil.
4. hard to please or satisfy: a difficult employer.
5. hard to persuade or induce; stubborn: a difficult old man.
6. disadvantageous; trying; hampering: The operation was performed under the most difficult conditions.
7. fraught with hardship, esp. financial hardship: We saw some difficult times during the depression years.
Origin:
1350–1400; ME, back formation from difficulty

Related forms:
dif⋅fi⋅cult⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
1. arduous. See hard. 2. intricate, perplexing, involved, knotty. 4. particular, finical, fussy. 5. obdurate, uncompromising.

Antonyms:
1. easy. 2. simple.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To difficult
dif·fi·cult   (dĭf'ĭ-kŭlt', -kəlt)   
adj.  
  1. Hard to do or accomplish; demanding considerable effort or skill; arduous: "To entertain is far more difficult than to enlighten" (Anthony Burgess). See Synonyms at hard.
  2. Hard to endure; trying: fell upon difficult times.
  3. Hard to comprehend or solve: a difficult puzzle.
  4. Hard to please, satisfy, or manage: a difficult child.
  5. Hard to persuade or convince; stubborn.

[Middle English, back-formation from difficulte, difficulty; see difficulty.]
dif'fi·cult'ly adv.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Difficult

Dif"fi*cult\, a. [From Difficulty.]

1. Hard to do or to make; beset with difficulty; attended with labor, trouble, or pains; not easy; arduous.

Note: Difficult implies the notion that considerable mental effort or skill is required, or that obstacles are to be overcome which call for sagacity and skill in the agent; as, a difficult task; hard work is not always difficult work; a difficult operation in surgery; a difficult passage in an author.

There is not the strength or courage left me to venture into the wide, strange, and difficult world, alone. --Hawthorne.

2. Hard to manage or to please; not easily wrought upon; austere; stubborn; as, a difficult person.

Syn: Arduous; painful; crabbed; perplexed; laborious; unaccommodating; troublesome. See Arduous.

Difficult

Dif"fi*cult\, v. t. To render difficult; to impede; to perplex. [R.] --Sir W. Temple.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : difficult
Spanish: difícil,
German: schwierig,
Japanese: 難しい
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