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difficult Definition

dif·fi·cult (dif′i kult′, -kəlt)

adjective

  1. hard to do, make, manage, understand, etc.; involving trouble or requiring extra effort, skill, or thought
  2. hard to satisfy, persuade, please, etc.

Etymology: ME, back-form. < difficulty

Related Forms:

difficult Synonyms

difficult

modif.

  1. Hard to achieve

    laborious, hard, arduous, strenuous, demanding, exacting, hard-won, stiff, heavy, painful, labored, trying, titanic, bothersome, troublesome, burdensome, backbreaking, not easy, wearisome, onerous, attended by obstacles, rigorous, Herculean, requiring much effort, Gargantuan, uphill, Sisyphean, challenging, taxing, formidable, ambitious, intricate, irksome, vexatious, tedious, immense, exhausting, grueling, stressful, unyielding, tricky, delicate, ticklish, beyond one's ability, tough*, heavy*, man-sized*, no picnic*, hairy*, sticky*; see also onerous, severe 1.

    Antonyms easy*, manageable*, light. *

  2. Hard to understand

    intricate, involved, perplexing, abstruse, abstract, tricky, hard, obscure, complex, complicated, knotty, thorny, troublesome, obstinate, puzzling, mysterious, mystifying, subtle, confusing, bewildering, dark, confounding, esoteric, unclear, mystical, tangled, hard to explain, hard to solve, entangled, profound, vexing, baffling, enmeshed, rambling, loose, meandering, trackless, inexplicable, pathless, awkward, digressive, turgid, deep, stubborn, labyrinthine, hidden, formidable, enigmatic, occult, paradoxical, incomprehensible, unintelligible, inscrutable, inexplicable, unanswerable, not understandable, unsolvable, unfathomable, concealed, unaccountable, ambiguous, equivocal, metaphysical, inconceivable, recondite, overtechnical, unknown, steep*, tough*, over one's head*, beyond one's depth*, too deep*, beyond one's comprehension, not making sense, Greek to*, past comprehension; see also obscure 1, 3.

    Antonyms simple, clear*, easy. *

  3. Hard to deal with or manage

    unmanageable, perverse, unaccommodating, finicky; see careful, contrary 4, irritable, obstinate.

hard, in this comparison, is the simple and general word for whatever demands great physical or mental effort hard work, a hard problem; difficult applies especially to that which requires great skill, intelligence, tact, etc. rather than physical labor a difficult situation; a difficult book; arduous implies the need for diligent, protracted effort the arduous fight ahead of us; laborious suggests long, wearisome toil the laborious task of picking fruit

difficult Usage Examples

Adjective complement with noun phrase

  • make: All of these extraordinary elements of design can make flow patterns difficult to manage.
  • find: Trees are somewhat sparse, but visitors will find the small greens difficult to reach in par figures.
  • render: These elements render steel very difficult to process due to hot shortness during hot rolling.

Modifying Another Word

    Infinitive complement

    • imagine: It is difficult to imagine that such a diverse range of chemical types would all act in the same way.
    • understand: The third reason is a little more difficult to understand.
    • predict: The problem is that it is very difficult to predict the extent of the damage.
    • distinguish: Where object classes contain only small numbers, it becomes very difficult to distinguish typical properties from the peculiar.
    • obtain: Equally, legal advice can be difficult to obtain for asylum-seekers who have been dispersed outside London.
    • quantify: Drug misuse is an illicit activity and therefore difficult to quantify.

    Modifies a noun

    • task: The 33 judges will have a very difficult task to select the winners.
    • situation: What has been the most difficult situation you have faced?
    • circumstance: And above all, so do all those who spend their lives working in the Service, often in difficult circumstances.
    • decision: Secondly, the City Council is having to take difficult decisions about its council housing stock.
    • terrain: A. ATV's and Quads are off-road vehicles, designed to be used on the most difficult terrain and on steepest slopes.
    • question: I wouldn't trust them with a difficult question!

    Used with adjective complement

    • prove: Measuring the actual numbers who attended the Mela as a result of Mela on the Mile proved difficult.
    • become: Search engine optimization has become much more difficult in recent years.
    • seem: Tamir's choice of the former ideal, rather than the latter, seems difficult to motivate.
    • find: Extra assistance will be given in areas which you may find difficult.
difficult Quotes

Ich habe um meine Kindheit gebeten, und sie ist wiedergekommen, und ich fu«  hle, dass sie immer noch so schwer ist wie damals, und dass es nichts genu«  tzt hat,  a« lter zu werden. I prayed to rediscover my childhood, and it has come back, and I feel that it is just as difficult as it used to be, and that growing older has served no purpose at all. 687

—Rilke, Rainer Maria

Difficult do you call it, Sir? I wish it were impossible.

—Johnson, Samuel known as Dr Johnson

Difficile est saturam non scribere. It is difficult not to write satire.

—Juvenal full name Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis

   Endure what is difficult to endure and to suffer what is difficult to suffer.

—Hirohito

The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.

—Chesterton, G(ilbert) K(eith)

   'Tis not the dying for a faith that's so hard, Master Harryöevery man of every nation has done thatö'tis the living up to it that is difficult.

—Thackeray,William Makepeace

There is more learning in their [Chinese] languagethan in anyother, fromthe immensenumberof their characters. It is only more difficult from its rudeness, as there is more labour in hewing down a tree with a stone than with an axe.

—Johnson, Samuel known as Dr Johnson

Resolve not to be poor; whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is a great enemy tohumanhappiness; itcertainly destroys liberty, and it makes some virtues impracticable, and others extremely difficult. 446

—Johnson, Samuel known as Dr Johnson

The poet is the unsatisfied child who dares to ask the difficult question which arises from the schoolmaster's answer to his simple question, and then the still more difficult question which arises from that.

—Graves, Robert von Ranke

The sonatas of Mozart are unique; they are too easy for children, and too difficult for artists.

—Schnabel, Artur

Thinking precisely and systematically about something as complex and irregular as a modern economy is very difficult, maybe impossible.

—Solow, Robert M

When a piece gets difficult make faces.

—Schnabel, Artur

Some time ago, in an interview that turned towards the Theatre, I suggested that 'Pubic hair is not an adequate substitute for wit'. My point now is that depending upon shock tactics is easy, whereas writing a good play is difficult.

—Priestley,J(ohn) B(oynton)