Definitions for difficult
ˈdɪf ɪˌkʌlt, -kəltdif·fi·cult

Princeton's WordNet(4.50 / 2 votes)Rate this definition:

1. difficult, hardadjective

   not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure

   "a difficult task"; "nesting places on the cliffs are difficult of access"; "difficult times"; "why is it so hard for you to keep a secret?"

2. unmanageable, difficultadjective

   hard to control

   "a difficult child", "an unmanageable situation"

Wiktionary(5.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. difficultadjective

   hard, not easy, requiring much effort

2. difficultadjective

   hard to manage, uncooperative, troublesome; eg. said of a person, a horse, etc.

3. Etymology: From difficulty, from difficultee, from difficulté, from difficultas, from difficul, older form of difficilis, from dis- + facilis; see difficile.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. DIFFICULTadjective

   Etymology: difficilis, Latin.

   1. Hard; not easy; not facil.

   It is difficult in the eyes of this people. Zachar.

   2. Troublesome; vexatious.3. Hard to please; peevish; morose.

Webster Dictionary(1.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. Difficultadjective

   hard to do or to make; beset with difficulty; attended with labor, trouble, or pains; not easy; arduous

2. Difficultadjective

   hard to manage or to please; not easily wrought upon; austere; stubborn; as, a difficult person

3. Difficultverb

   to render difficult; to impede; to perplex

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Difficult

   dif′i-kult, adj. not easy: hard to be done: requiring labour and pains: hard to please: not easily persuaded.—adv. Diff′icultly.—n. Diff′iculty, laboriousness: obstacle: objection: that which cannot be easily understood or believed: embarrassment of affairs: a quarrel. [The adj. was formed from difficulty, in place of the old form difficile. Fr. difficulté—L. difficultas = difficilitas—difficilis—dif (= dis), neg., and facilis, easy.]

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'difficult' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #425

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'difficult' in Written Corpus Frequency: #457

3. Adjectives Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'difficult' in Adjectives Frequency: #44

How to pronounce difficult?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say difficult in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of difficult in Chaldean Numerology is: 2

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of difficult in Pythagorean Numerology is: 9

Examples of difficult in a Sentence

1. Stephanie Anastasiou:

   A business in Greece will not stop operating when there are customers to serve, such businesses have proven to be fully operable even in more difficult times during these past crisis years.

2. Joe Leask:

   My job is sometimes the easiest job in the world and sometimes my job is the most difficult job in the world.

3. European Council President Donald Tusk:

   Still, it's not so easy to agree with our Chinese partners when it comes to these issues but our talks were difficult, tough but also promising.

4. The Russian foreign ministry:

   Russia-U.S. relations are undergoing difficult times caused by Washington’s purposeful unfriendly actions, groundlessly making Russia responsible for the Ukraine crisis which was largely triggered by the United States itself, in 2014...Barack Obama's administration chose a path to cut back bilateral ties, proclaimed policy toward 'isolating' our country at the international scene and demanded support to its confrontational steps from countries who traditionally follow Washington's track.

5. Andrew Lamason:

   Refloating stranded whales is a difficult and potentially dangerous job.

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