difficulty

American  

[dif-i-kuhl-tee] / ˈdɪf ɪˌkʌl ti /

noun

difficulties plural

1. the fact or condition of being difficult.

2. Often difficulties. an embarrassing situation, especially of financial affairs.

   Synonyms:

   strait, exigency, fix, plight, quandary, predicament, dilemma

3. a trouble or struggle.

   Synonyms:

   problem

4. a cause of trouble, struggle, or embarrassment.

5. a disagreement or dispute.

6. reluctance; unwillingness.

7. a demur; objection.

8. something that is hard to do, understand, or surmount; an impediment or obstacle.

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difficulty British  

/ ˈdɪfɪkəltɪ /

noun

1. the state or quality of being difficult

2. a task, problem, etc, that is hard to deal with

3. (often plural) a troublesome or embarrassing situation, esp a financial one

4. a dispute or disagreement

5. (often plural) an objection or obstacle

   he always makes difficulties

6. a trouble or source of trouble; worry

7. lack of ease; awkwardness

   he could run only with difficulty

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• predifficulty
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• difficulties
  plural

Etymology

Origin of difficulty

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English difficulte, from Anglo-French, from Latin difficultās, equivalent to difficil(is) difficile + -tās -ty ²

Explanation

A difficulty is anything that gives you a hard or difficult time. If you eat a lot of chips and dip before dinner, you may have some difficulty finishing your meal. A difficulty is anything that causes problems. Forgetting an answer during a test could be a difficulty. A broken leg is a more painful difficulty. A poor economy is a difficulty, and losing your job is a more personal difficulty. A difficulty is also anything that’s not easy to do, like becoming a doctor or lifting a huge weight. Difficulties are generally serious or hard to overcome. If you’re having difficulty, you’re having troubles.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

difficulty difficulties

But Arana amplified the moves, increasing the difficulty within sequences.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

A man is in a critical condition in hospital after three people got into difficulty in the water near an Essex pier.

From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026

"And the difficulty with a lot of the problems that he's dealing with" is that they are "30, 40, 50 years in their evolution".

From Barron's ● Jul. 26, 2026

The difficulty lies in the technology’s combination of extreme complexity with extreme precision, said Chris Miller, a historian of technology at Tufts University and author of “Chip War.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

Similar to other sequenced learning approaches, such as Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development or scaffolding, Gordon’s approach relies on a gradual increase in skill level difficulty as the student progresses.

From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin

Parkinson's disease is a chronic, degenerative neurological disorder that affects the body's motor system, often causing shaking and other difficulties in movement.

From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026

If we are “Five-Star”-fortunate, we can hire assistance to handle the inevitable difficulties associated with this time of life, whether that means groundskeepers or divorce lawyers.

From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2026

Where difficulties will arise is in the sectors where the cheap-money era is most embedded: private equity and private credit.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026

Children with special educational needs can sometimes experience sensory difficulties when it comes to food - and are not classified as fussy eaters.

From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026

In spite of all these difficulties, he continued to prepare his epic book on mechanics, inertia and motion.

From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin

Related Words

• anxiety
• complication
• crisis
• embarrassment
• frustration
• inconvenience
• misery
• predicament
• pressure
• setback
• stress
• strife
• struggle
• trouble
• worry