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.
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a hard decision
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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.
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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
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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.
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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