chal ‧ leng ‧ ing AC /ˈtʃæləndʒɪŋ, ˈtʃælɪndʒɪŋ/ BrE AmE adjective
[ Word Family: adjective : ↑ challenging , ↑ challenged ≠ ↑ unchallenged , ↑ unchallengeable ; noun : ↑ challenge , ↑ challenger ; verb : ↑ challenge ; adverb : ↑ challengingly ]
difficult in an interesting or enjoyable way:
Teaching young children is a challenging and rewarding job.
a challenging problem
—challengingly adverb
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ difficult not easy to do, understand, or deal with:
a difficult question
|
The homework was really difficult.
|
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.
|
The team faces some tough competition.
|
Life is tough sometimes.
▪ tricky difficult because it is complicated and full of problems:
She had helped him out of a tricky situation.
|
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.
|
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.