What does difficult mean?

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

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word difficult.

Princeton's WordNet

  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

  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

  1. DIFFICULTadjective

    Etymology: difficilis, Latin.

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

Wikipedia

  1. Difficult

    Difficult is the fourth single from French-American recording artist Uffies debut album, Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans. The single was produced by Uffie's label-mate and friend SebastiAn and was released by Ed Banger Records, Because Music and Elektra Records on October 18, 2010. Remixes by SebastiAn and Azari & III were included in the release.

ChatGPT

  1. difficult

    Difficult refers to something that requires much effort or skill to accomplish, understand, or deal with. It can also describe a situation or task that presents challenges or complications. Additionally, it may denote someone or something that is hard to please, handle, or manage.

Webster Dictionary

  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

  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 = difficilitasdifficilisdif (= 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

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

How to pronounce difficult?

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. Emerson Wickwire:

    For example, it could be that children who are more food responsive are also more difficult to settle at night (when adults or older children might be eating). the current study suggests a new potential explanation (hedonic eating) for weight gain among children who sleep less . . . in other words, kids in the study who slept less were more susceptible to unhealthy food cues in the environment.

  2. Oscar Wilde, "An Ideal Husband":

    To be natural is such a very difficult pose to keep up.

  3. Maya Golden-Krasner:

    They can't sleep, they have respiratory problems, they have rashes and burning eyes, and so it's really difficult for people who live nearby, particularly in the black and Latino areas where they have less protective conditions.

  4. Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia:

    It's difficult to write about anything cheerful, because there's all too little cheerfulness here. On the other hand, God doesn't abandon us. The sun shines, the birds sing, and this morning we heard the bells sounding matins.

  5. Felipe Massa:

    Ferrari is a big company so every day you are in the media for good or for bad. Sometimes this is not helping the driver or even the team, definitely you have a lot more pressure there than maybe another team. . . I felt a lot of pressure in difficult moments and you need to just relax.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

difficult#1#1928#10000

Translations for difficult

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"difficult." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 16 Feb. 2025. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/difficult>.

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    a small contrasting part of something
    A howdah
    B epiphora
    C volubility
    D maculation

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