DIFFICULT


Meaning of DIFFICULT in English

dif ‧ fi ‧ cult S1 W1 /ˈdɪfɪk ə lt/ BrE AmE adjective

[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Origin: difficulty ]

1 . hard to do, understand, or deal with OPP easy :

a difficult question

an immensely difficult task

Was the exam very difficult?

It’s difficult to see how more savings can be made.

difficult (for somebody) to understand/find/obtain etc

That’s rather difficult for me to explain.

He’s finding it difficult to get a job.

2 . involving a lot of problems and causing a lot of trouble or worry:

a difficult situation

Things are a bit difficult at home at the moment.

There could be difficult times ahead.

make life/things difficult for somebody (=cause problems for someone)

She’s doing everything she can to make life difficult for him.

3 . someone who is difficult never seems pleased or satisfied SYN awkward :

Don’t be so difficult!

a difficult customer

• • •

THESAURUS

▪ difficult not easy to do, understand, or deal with:

a difficult question

|

The homework was really difficult.

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It is difficult to see how peace can be achieved in the region.

▪ hard difficult. Hard is less formal than difficult and is very common in spoken English:

The test was really hard.

|

a hard decision

|

It was hard to forgive him.

▪ tough very difficult, because you have to use a lot of effort, or because it affects you emotionally:

a tough race

|

Doctors have to make tough decisions about who to treat first.

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The team faces some tough competition.

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Life is tough sometimes.

▪ tricky difficult because it is complicated and full of problems:

She had helped him out of a tricky situation.

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Merging the two companies was bound to be tricky.

▪ awkward rather difficult to deal with – used especially when something could be embarrassing:

You’ve put me in a very awkward position.

|

It was getting dark and foggy, which made the rescue even more awkward.

▪ challenging difficult in an interesting or enjoyable way:

I wanted a job that was more challenging.

|

a challenging piece of music

▪ demanding difficult and tiring, because it takes a lot of effort:

Being a nurse in a busy hospital is a demanding job.

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it can be very demanding bringing up young children.

▪ daunting if something seems daunting, you think that it will be difficult and you do not feel confident about being able to do it:

a daunting challenge

|

The task seemed a little daunting at first.

▪ delicate needing to be dealt with carefully or sensitively, especially in order to avoid offending people or causing problems:

This is a very delicate subject, and it can be difficult to talk about it with your parents.

|

He thanked me for the way in which this delicate matter had been handled.

■ COLLOCATIONS CHECK

▪ difficult question/decision/situation/problem etc

▪ hard question/decision/test

▪ tough question/decision/job/game/race

▪ tricky question/situation/position/moment

▪ awkward question/situation/position/moment

▪ challenging job

▪ demanding work/schedule/course

▪ daunting task/challenge/prospect

▪ delicate subject/matter/issue

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.      Longman - Словарь современного английского языка.