Difficult
['dɪfɪk(ə)lt] or ['dɪfɪkəlt]
Definition
(adj.) not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure; 'a difficult task'; 'nesting places on the cliffs are difficult of access'; 'difficult times'; 'why is it so hard for you to keep a secret?' .
Edited by Dorothy--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Hard to do or to make; beset with difficulty; attended with labor, trouble, or pains; not easy; arduous.
(a.) Hard to manage or to please; not easily wrought upon; austere; stubborn; as, a difficult person.
(v. t.) To render difficult; to impede; to perplex.
Inputed by Edgar
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. [1]. Hard, arduous. Herculean, up-hill, beset with difficulty.[2]. Austere, rigid, unyielding, unaccommodating.[3]. Fastidious, dainty, squeamish, hard to please.
Editor: Vito
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Hard, intricate, Involved, perplexing, enigmatical, obscure, trying, arduous,troublesome, up_hill, unmanageable, unamenable, reserved, opposed
ANT:Easy, plain, straight, pimple, lucid, categorical, tractable, amenable,unreserved, favorable
Checked by Ellen
Definition
adj. not easy: hard to be done: requiring labour and pains: hard to please: not easily persuaded.—adv. Diff′icultly.—n. Diff′iculty laboriousness: obstacle: objection: that which cannot be easily understood or believed: embarrassment of affairs: a quarrel.
Editor: Will
Examples
- It would be difficult to find a human being less likely to arouse affection. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- We can here consider only a few cases; of these, some of the most difficult to explain are presented by fish. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- But it is a responsible trust,' added Mr Milvey, 'and difficult to discharge. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- This latter task was becoming more and more difficult, for the blacks had taken to hiding their supply away at night in granaries and living huts. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
- Yes--yes--the end is not so difficult; if I had only a brain active enough to ferret out the means of attaining it. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- But it will be still more difficult to fulfil the second condition, requisite to justify this system. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- He looked through the letters first, because it was the most difficult part of the work. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- But one must not expect every thing; though I suppose it would be no difficult matter to widen them. Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
- Prove yourself true ere I cherish you, was his ordinance; and how difficult he made that proof! Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- This made it very difficult for the housewife to serve the breakfast hot, and particularly the toast, which is a favorite dish of our breakfast table. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- But conditions change whether statesmen wish them to or not; society must have new institutions to fit new wants, and all that rigid conservatism can do is to make the transitions difficult. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- It was extremely difficult, I heard, to make out what he owed, or what he had paid, or of what he died possessed. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- And indeed, you will not easily find a more difficult study, and not many as difficult. Plato. The Republic.
- The place was so difficult to get over, that he tried again. Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
- It is still difficult to assign the honour of priority in the use of the simple expedient of printing for multiplying books. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Surely it would not be difficult to find out. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- It isn't difficult to be a country gentleman's wife, Rebecca thought. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Well, it would have been difficult; we should have had to walk by turns. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- Their surgeons understood the use of an?sthetics, and performed some of the most difficult operations known. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Everything is difficult, El Sordo said. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- Nay, he said, the case of a city is the strongest of all, inasmuch as the rule of a city is the greatest and most difficult of all. Plato. The Republic.
- Why, it _is_ difficult, sir, I confess,' said the tall footman. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- Really, my dear,' said Mr. Gradgrind, 'it is difficult to answer your question—' 'Difficult to answer it, Yes or No, father? Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
- Maybe they did but it sounded difficult. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- I am placed in the most difficult circumstances. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- They find it difficult to get food, and the greater part of their little revenue is spent in getting it. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- It is a little difficult to see this when you live right in the midst of one. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- They understood how difficult it is to transmit knowledge without putting initiative in jeopardy and that quiet int ellect is easily dismayed in the presence of bold speech. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- The evidence is more complete than could well have been expected in a matter which is naturally so very difficult to be ascertained. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- It may have been too that in this she did not quite succeed, for it is very difficult to resist confidence, and she knew she had Georgiana's. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
Editor: Will