-ˌkəltē, -ti also -_kə- noun
( -es )
Etymology: Middle English difficulte, from Latin difficultas, irregular (influence of Latin facultas skill, ability) from difficilis difficult — more at difficile , faculty
1.
a. : the quality or state of being difficult or hard to do or to overcome : arduousness
the difficulty of a task
b. : unusual or laborious effort
the difficulty of climbing those steep stairs
2. : a thing hard to do or to overcome : something that causes labor or perplexity and requires skill and perseverance in mastering, solving, or achieving : a hard enterprise : obstacle , impediment
the difficulties of a science
3. : a show of reluctance : objection , cavil , demur
he made no difficulty in granting the request
4. : embarrassment of affairs
in days of difficulty and pressure — Alfred Tennyson
as
a. usually plural : embarrassment in financial affairs
spent wildly and suddenly found himself in difficulties
b. : a falling out : disagreement , controversy
labor difficulties grew out of bad working conditions
Synonyms:
difficulty , hardship , rigor , and vicissitude can mean in common something obstructing one's goal and demanding effort or endurance to overcome. difficulty , the most widely applicable of the terms, applies to any condition, situation, experience, or task which presents a problem hard to solve
we ventured, however, over all these difficulties, and I took her to wife September 1st, 1730 — Benjamin Franklin
difficulties occur and have to be surmounted — T.D.Weldon
Galileo's difficulties with the church had nothing to do with his experiments — M.R.Cohen
there are always difficulties between a man's dream and its achievement
hardship stresses suffering, toil, or privation that is unusual or hard to bear, especially in the pursuit of a goal
the first decade in the history of Minnesota's newspapers brought them great hardships — American Guide Series: Minnesota
they face the hardships of their comfortless lives with stolid indifference — P.E.James
she insisted on sharing the hardships on equal terms with soldiers — Current Biography
rigor usually applies to a hardship imposed upon one, as by ambition, a religion, a tyrannical government, or a trying climate
anything which might soften the rigor of his prison — J.H.Wheelwright
the rigor of parental authority — Abram Kardiner
the rigors of the weather — Alexis Carrel
a European custom which nowhere survived the rigors of the frontier — W.P.Webb
vicissitude , in this connection, applies to a difficulty or hardship incident to life or a career or course of action
the dwarfing vicissitudes of poverty — Francis Hackett
the vicissitudes of living, such as faulty diets, infections, intoxications, traumata, emotional stresses, overwork, laziness — A.J.Carlson & E.J.Stieglitz
the vicissitudes of political persecution and exile — Times Literary Supplement