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.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday that Iranians should expect rising prices and economic hardship as the country absorbs the costs of war, including damage to energy infrastructure and growing difficulty exporting oil.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026
Instead, it would be far wiser for policymakers to focus on directly strengthening the social safety net, so every patient has equitable access to treatments without financial hardship.
From Salon • May 15, 2026
Loans and hardship withdrawals are also rising as more workers tap retirement savings to cover emergencies.
From MarketWatch • May 14, 2026
“For a veteran who has already sacrificed so much, losing their home is not just a financial hardship, it is a failure of our commitment to them,” Gonzalez said.
From Los Angeles Times • May 13, 2026
He knows he has caused them much sorrow, much hardship.
From "The Boy Who Dared" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
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.
