hardship
Americannoun
-
a condition that is difficult to endure; suffering; deprivation; oppression.
a life of hardship.
- Synonyms:
- misfortune, suffering, affliction, trouble
- Antonyms:
- ease
-
an instance or cause of this; something hard to bear, as a deprivation, lack of comfort, or constant toil or danger.
They faced bravely the many hardships of frontier life.
noun
-
conditions of life difficult to endure
-
something that causes suffering or privation
Related Words
Hardship, privation, austerity refer to a condition hard to endure. Hardship applies to a circumstance in which excessive and painful effort of some kind is required, as enduring acute discomfort from cold, or battling over rough terrain. Privation has particular reference to lack of food, clothing, and other necessities or comforts. Austerity not only includes the ideas of privation and hardship but also implies deliberate control of emotional reactions to these.
Etymology
Origin of hardship
Explanation
If something is a hardship, it causes suffering or unpleasantness. After all the hardship you endured while training for the marathon, you really hope that you’ll do well — or at least finish! The word hard in hardship is a tip-off to its meaning: something that’s a hardship is hard. It could be hard work that you do for a larger goal — like training for the marathon — or it could be a situation that’s hard to endure. If you lose your job, you could end up experiencing financial hardship. Sometimes a hardship is something that just happens, like the hardship people suffer following a disaster.
Vocabulary lists containing hardship
ASVAB Word Knowledge
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Donald Trump Inauguration Address- January 20, 2017
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
This story was co-published and supported by the journalism nonprofit the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.
From Slate • Apr. 19, 2026
Hardship withdrawals may serve as a safety net that may not otherwise have been available without being automatically enrolled in a retirement-savings plan, Vanguard said.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 4, 2026
As Anthony DePalma chronicles in “On This Ground: Hardship and Hope at the Toughest Prep School in America,” the decisions these monks made have shaped St. Benedict’s for more than a half century.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 2, 2026
If you’re experiencing financial hardship, you can use Form 1127, which is the Application for Extension of Time for Payment of Tax Due to Undue Hardship.
From Salon • Feb. 8, 2025
Hardship and sorrow!" he breaks out again, "not a king but would wish to be without these if he could.
From History of the English People, Volume I Early England, 449-1071; Foreign Kings, 1071-1204; The Charter, 1204-1216 by Green, John Richard
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
