Definitions for difficulty
ˈdɪf ɪˌkʌl ti, -kəl tidif·fi·cul·ty

Princeton's WordNet(1.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. trouble, difficultynoun

   an effort that is inconvenient

   "I went to a lot of trouble"; "he won without any trouble"; "had difficulty walking"; "finished the test only with great difficulty"

2. difficultynoun

   a factor causing trouble in achieving a positive result or tending to produce a negative result

   "serious difficulties were encountered in obtaining a pure reagent"

3. difficultynoun

   a condition or state of affairs almost beyond one's ability to deal with and requiring great effort to bear or overcome

   "grappling with financial difficulties"

4. difficulty, difficultnessnoun

   the quality of being difficult

   "they agreed about the difficulty of the climb"

Wiktionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. difficultynoun

   The state of being difficult, or hard to do.

2. difficultynoun

   An obstacle that hinders achievement of a goal.

   We faced a difficulty.

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

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

1. Difficultynoun

   Etymology: from difficult; difficultè, French.

   1. Hardness; contrariety to easiness or facility.

   The religion which, by this covenant, we engage ourselves to observe, is a work of labour and difficulty; a service that requires our greatest care and attention to the discharge of it. John Rogers, Serm. 13.

   2. That which is hard to accomplish; that which is not easy.

   They mistake difficulties for impossibilities: a pernicious mistake certainly; and the more pernicious, for that men are seldom convinced of it, ’till their convictions do them no good. Robert South, Sermons.

   3. Distress; opposition.

   Thus, by degrees, he rose to Jove’s imperial seat:
   Thus difficulties prove a soul legitimately great. Dryden.

   4. Perplexity in affairs; uneasiness of circumstances.

   They lie at present under some difficulties, by reason of the emperor’s displeasure, who has forbidden the importation of their manufactures. Joseph Addison, on Italy.

   5. Objection; cavil.

   Men should consider, that raising difficulties concerning the mysteries in religion, cannot make them more wise, learned, or virtuous. Jonathan Swift.

Webster Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Difficultynoun

   the state of being difficult, or hard to do; hardness; arduousness; -- opposed to easiness or facility; as, the difficulty of a task or enterprise; a work of difficulty

2. Difficultynoun

   something difficult; a thing hard to do or to understand; that which occasions labor or perplexity, and requires skill and perseverance to overcome, solve, or achieve; a hard enterprise; an obstacle; an impediment; as, the difficulties of a science; difficulties in theology

3. Difficultynoun

   a controversy; a falling out; a disagreement; an objection; a cavil

4. Difficultynoun

   embarrassment of affairs, especially financial affairs; -- usually in the plural; as, to be in difficulties

Dictionary of Nautical Terms(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. difficulty

   A word unknown to true salts.

Matched Categories

1. • Cognitive Factor
   • Condition
   • Effort
   • Quality

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'difficulty' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #1652

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'difficulty' in Written Corpus Frequency: #1772

3. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'difficulty' in Nouns Frequency: #323

How to pronounce difficulty?

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 difficulty in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of difficulty in Chaldean Numerology is: 3

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of difficulty in Pythagorean Numerology is: 7

Examples of difficulty in a Sentence

1. Amy Oakes:

   She was diagnosed in first grade after there were some difficulties in the classroom, but there were other components to it -- there was oppositional defiant disorder, there were some [autism] spectrum-like behaviors, and difficulty later on socializing with other children.

2. Vitor Constancio:

   To change the demographic trends, promoting birth is not enough. It also has to be done through immigration. If not, we're creating a great difficulty to growth and to the welfare of future generations.

3. Philippe Bianchi:

   If he were to have severe handicaps, we are convinced that is not at all what Jules would want, we talked about it. He told us that if one day he had an accident like Michael Schumacher's, even if his only handicap was not being able to drive, he would have a lot of difficulty living with it. Because it was his life.

4. Steve Nichols:

   It's a big rigamarole and generally people don't try to move CJIS data into the cloud because of the difficulty and cost, but it's starting to happen.

5. Olivier Ponti:

   The world's largest and highest spending outbound travel market, China, is in severe difficulty; cancellations are growing by the day and the trend is now spreading to surrounding countries.

Popularity rank by frequency of use