difficult
Americanadjective
-
not easily or readily done; requiring much labor, skill, or planning to be performed successfully; hard.
a difficult job.
- Synonyms:
- arduous
- Antonyms:
- easy
-
hard to understand or solve.
a difficult problem.
- Antonyms:
- simple
-
hard to deal with or get on with.
a difficult pupil.
-
hard to please or satisfy.
a difficult employer.
- Synonyms:
- fussy, finical, particular
-
hard to persuade or induce; stubborn.
a difficult old man.
- Synonyms:
- uncompromising, obdurate
-
disadvantageous; trying; hampering.
The operation was performed under the most difficult conditions.
-
fraught with hardship, especially financial hardship.
We saw some difficult times during the depression years.
adjective
-
not easy to do; requiring effort
a difficult job
-
not easy to understand or solve; intricate
a difficult problem
-
hard to deal with; troublesome
a difficult child
-
not easily convinced, pleased, or satisfied
a difficult audience
-
full of hardships or trials
difficult times ahead
Related Words
See hard.
Other Word Forms
- difficultly adverb
- nondifficult adjective
- quasi-difficult adjective
- quasi-difficultly adverb
- superdifficult adjective
- superdifficultly adverb
- undifficult adjective
- undifficultly adverb
Etymology
Origin of difficult
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, back formation from difficulty ( def. )
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.
"A sporting choice. A difficult choice and maybe a hard choice - and maybe to a certain degree unfair, but these choices have to be made."
From BBC
Northern Ireland's Josh Rock has endured a difficult debut Premier League campaign, losing in the quarter-finals in the first seven weeks.
From BBC
Deutsche Bank analyst Melissa Weathers wrote recently that investors were likely exercising more caution “given past memory bust cycles,” adding that those fears are “difficult to disprove in the near term.”
From MarketWatch
The reforms made it more difficult to simply demand a hefty payout from a company.
From Los Angeles Times
She also recounted her difficult childhood, much of it spent in care homes.
From BBC
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.
