hardship

[hahrd-ship]

See more synonyms for hardship on Thesaurus.com

noun

a condition that is difficult to endure; suffering; deprivation; oppression: a life of hardship.
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.

Origin of hardship

Middle English word dating back to 1175–1225; see origin at hard, -ship

Synonyms for hardship

1. trouble, affliction, suffering, misfortune. 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.

Antonyms for hardship

1. ease.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for hardship

grief, misfortune, peril, disaster, danger, oppression, suffering, hazard, discomfort, difficulty, calamity, fatigue, worry, misery, persecution, torment, trouble, injury, sorrow, adversity

Examples from the Web for hardship

Contemporary Examples of hardship

Omran has that deep, mature stare that only comes with years of hardship and struggle.
Beating Cancer & Dodging Israel's Bombs
Itay Hod
September 1, 2014
At other times, North Korea might want aid economic and food concessions, especially during periods of hardship and famine.
Is North Korea Collecting American Hostages?
Kyle Mizokami
June 7, 2014
The youth are desperate because of the hardship of life here and the joblessness.
PLO Official: Al-Qaeda To Target Lebanese Christians
Jamie Dettmer
February 7, 2014
Conservatives oppose public spending to ease the hardship of poor women, cutting funds for food stamps and housing assistance.
Thank The Pill For Abortion Rate Drop
Sally Kohn
February 3, 2014
This was it: An impending termination of the oppression and hardship that comprised so many of our Arab landscapes.
Defeating the Arab Spring Syndrome of Self-Defeat
Talal Alyan
October 15, 2013

Historical Examples of hardship

If you've only just got it, there'll be no hardship to you or to them if you give it up now!
The Foolish Lovers
St. John G. Ervine
If you can eat and sleep well, you can stand almost any hardship.
The Forest
Stewart Edward White
She loves him, and through poverty and hardship will share his fate.
Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXII No. 4, April 1848
Various
He said he'd escaped from prison and, after a lot of difficulty and hardship, got back to England.
Changing Winds
St. John G. Ervine
Before these were completed she succumbed to the hardship of her life.
A Zola Dictionary
J. G. Patterson

British Dictionary definitions for hardship

hardship

noun

conditions of life difficult to endure
something that causes suffering or privation

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for hardship

c.1200, "quality of being hard," from hard + -ship. Meaning "disadvantage, suffering, privation" is c.1400.