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

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

2. difficultadjective

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

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

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. Shiu Sin-por:

   For Beijing to announce this, they most probably already have something in mind, this is not difficult to set up, so this can happen anytime.

2. David Titley:

   While that question remains difficult to answer given all the factors that affect an individual weather event, we can now say more about how climate change has affected the intensity or likelihood of some events.

3. Bassel Choughari:

   It creates a bit of a grey area between Swiss-made and probably made-in-China products, so that could be a bit difficult to manage over time.

4. Sharon Bonelli:

   They could do that by paying down debt if they could raise new capital, which would be very difficult for an energy company right now from a debt market offering, or they could try to sell an asset, if they can’t reduce the overage, then that’s a default.

5. Daniel Biss:

   It was very difficult to pass, when you talk about it to the public, no one can understand why you wouldn't try it. But the opponents fought hard to defeat it.

Images & Illustrations of difficult

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