Difficult

Definition: Difficult

Difficult

Adjective

1. 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"; "a difficult child"; "found himself in a difficult situation"; "why is it so hard for you to keep a secret?".

2. Requiring much effort and trouble; "the mountain climb was long, steep, and difficult".

Date "difficult" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references)

The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted.
Entry	Source	Expression	Field
DITLA	English	Agricultural literature in difficult languages	Food & Agriculture, Publishing & Graphic Arts
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Synonym: Difficult

Synonym: hard (adj). (additional references)

Antonym: easy (adj). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Difficulty	Verb: be difficult; Adjective: run one hard, go against the grain, try one's patience, put one out; put to one's shifts, put to one's wit's end; go hard with one, try one; pose, perplex; (uncertain); bother, nonplus, gravel, bring to a deadlock; be impossible; be in the way of; (hinder).
	Render difficult; Adjective: enmesh, encumber, embarrass, ravel, entangle; put a spoke in the wheel; (hinder); lead a pretty dance.
	Adjective: difficult, not easy, hard, tough; troublesome, toilsome, irksome; operose, laborious, onerous, arduous, Herculean, formidable; sooner said than done; more easily said than done, easier said than done.
	Difficult to deal with, hard to deal with; ill-conditioned, crabbed, crabby; not to be handled with kid gloves, not made with rose water.
Fastidiousness	Adjective: fastidious, nice, delicate, delicat, finical, finicky, demanding, meticulous, exacting, strict, anal, difficult, dainty, lickerish, squeamish, thin-skinned; squeasy, queasy; hard to please, difficult to please; querulous, particular, straitlaced, scrupulous; censorious; hypercritical; overcritical.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Crosswords: Difficult

Specialty definitions using "difficult": difficult area ♦ provably difficult. (references)

Etymologies containing "difficult": Uneasy. (references)

Non-English Usage: "Difficult" is also a word in the following language with the English translation in parentheses.

Italian (difficile).

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	The human spirit, it is a very difficult thing to kill (The Addams Family; writing credit: Caroline Thompson) Why do you make things difficult for me (Miss Congeniality; writing credit: Marc Lawrence; Katie Ford) I'm looking for Wayne, I'm very concerned about him he seems to be going through a difficult phase right now, yah know (Wayne's World; writing credit: Mike Myers) It's not difficult to surmise Nathan's feelings towards killing these guards; and my own proclivities are well-known and often-lamented facts of penal lore (Con Air; writing credit: Scott Rosenberg) Shouldn't be too difficult -- just follow the mayhem (Birds of Prey; writing credit: Adam Armus; Nora Kay Foster)
Clever	Uses Logic On Difficult Jobs: Gets someone else to do it. (references; author: unknown) It is difficult to "go with the flow" when you are swimming upstream. (references; author: unknown) There is nothing so easy but that it becomes difficult when you do it with reluctance. (references; author: unknown) There are times when forgetting can be just as important as remembering, and even more difficult. (references; author: unknown) Be thankful for problems. If they were less difficult, someone with less ability might have your job. (references; author: unknown)
Movie/TV Titles	Goodrich Dirt in a Difficult Delivery (1918) A Difficult Woman (1998) W. Eugene Smith: Photography Made Difficult (1989)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Domain	Title
Books	Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss what Matters Most (reference) The Way of Transition: Embracing Life's Most Difficult Moments (reference) (more book examples)

Theater & Movies	W. Eugene Smith - Photography Made Difficult (reference) Dealing With Differences and Difficult People (reference) Transforming the Difficult Child (reference) (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music	Screamers: Difficult Works For The Horn (reference) Difficult to Cure [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED] (reference) I Was in Love With a Difficult Man (reference) Mutilation Makes Identification Difficult (reference) (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Thumbnail	Description & Credit	Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	Pictured is a lab setting. There are four scientists all seated and looking through at a four-headed microscope. They are all wearing white lab coats. The simultaneous examination of tissue from a difficult case assists pathologists in their diagnosis. Credit: Linda Bartlett (photographer).		Shown are 2 mammograms of normal dense breasts. A dense breast makes a mammographic image difficult to read when and if cancerous lesions are present. These images are typical of breast of younger women. Credit: Unknown photographer/artist.
	Darkfield microscopy involves the application of light rays in an oblique manner to microscopic specimens in order to illuminate these organisms, which are normally difficult to see using normal lighting techniques. Credit: CDC.		Pneumoconiosis, or Black Lung Disease, is a job related disease caused by continued exposure to excessive amounts of coal mine dust. This dust becomes imbedded in the lungs, causing them to harden, making breathing very difficult. Credit: CDC.
	A swampy shoreline at dusk Hundreds of islands make mapping work difficult. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection.		Without buildings and markers, it would be difficult to tell which way is up on this gray day. Credit: Paths Less Taken - NOAA at the Ends of the Earth.
	A 400 kilogram (880 pounds) tuna is landed by eight fishermen. This is a difficult and dangerous time when synchronized effort is required to land the tuna. Poor timing can cause the poles to break and a fisherman to land in the water. Some fishermen have died in this manner after falling overboard and being struck by the tuna tails. Credit: Fisheries.		Investigating some of biota on the reef took close observations in difficult circumstances. Credit: The Coral Kingdom.
	Figure 12. Borgert net devised by Dr. Adolph Borgert of Hamburg in 1893. Having found the Hensen and Buchet nets too heavy, too complicated, and difficult to manage, and too expensive, Dr. Borgert designed this net for collecting plankton at the surface at high speed. This net was first tested from the steamer BARCELONA between Hamburg and the western Mediterranean. Credit: Sailing for Science - the NOAA Fleet Then and Now.		Figure 14. Apstein plankton tube. Above: Top view. Below: bottom view. Invented by Carl Apstein who had been studying lake fauna. Apstein collaborated with Hensen to work in the Baltic and North Seas. Apstein perceived quickly that methods of work would have to vary considerably from lake work and made thi s instrument for collecting small plankton under difficult conditions. Credit: Sailing for Science - the NOAA Fleet Then and Now.
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Play	Caption
	A guitar solo playing a very difficult, slow minor melody.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Author	Quotation
(Decimus Junius Juvenalis) Juvenal	It is difficult not to write satire.
Benedict Spinoza	All excellent things are as difficult as they are rare.
Homer	The Olympian is a difficult foe to oppose.
Horace	My liver swells with bile difficult to repress.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe	Sowing is not as difficult as reaping.
Plutarch	To find a fault is easy; to do better may be difficult.
Samuel Johnson	Difficult do you call it, Sir? I wish it were impossible.
William Cowper	A life of ease is a difficult pursuit.
	The life of ease is a difficult pursuit.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Author	Date	Quotation
John Locke	1690	But this being supposed, it seems to some a very great difficulty, how any one should ever come to have a property in any thing: I will not content myself to answer, that if it be difficult to make out property, upon a supposition that God gave the world to Adam, and his posterity in common, it is impossible that any man, but one universal monarch, should have any property upon a supposition, that God gave the world to Adam, and his heirs in succession, exclusive of all the rest of his posterity. (Second Treatise of Government)
Treaty of Versailles	1919	They recognise that differences of climate, habits, and customs, of economic opportunity and industrial tradition, make strict uniformity in the conditions of labour difficult of immediate attainment. (reference)
Winston S. Churchill	1946	What is needed is a settlement, and the longer this is delayed, the more difficult it will be and the greater our dangers will become. ("Iron Curtain" Speech)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Title	Author	Quote
Emma	Austen, Jane	It is very difficult for the prosperous to be humble
Alice in Wonderland	Carroll, Lewis	Came to the conclusion that it was a very difficult game indeed
A Christmas Carol	Dickens, Charles	But for this it would have been difficult to detach its figure from the night, and separate it from the darkness by which it was surrounded
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy	Douglas Adams	There was something very slightly odd about him, but it was difficult to say what it was. Perhaps it was that his eyes didn't blink often enough and when you talked to him for any length of time your eyes began involuntarily to water on his behalf
Les Miserables	Hugo, Victor	It is difficult not to reflect for a moment here
Trainspotting	Irvine Welsh	Renton knows how difficult it is. He'd spent many an evening practising the skill in front of the mirror, but both brows kept elevating simultaneously
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man	Joyce, James	A gentle kick from the tall boy in the bench behind urged Stephen to ask a difficult question
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Health		This makes diagnosis difficult. (references)
		Yes, but treatment can be difficult. (references)
		Finding the proper facility can itself prove difficult. (references)
Business		Exporting itself is not difficult. (references)
		This remains a difficult challenge. (references)
		Investment projections by the public sector are difficult to make. (references)
Children	Kyrgyz Republic	These costs are difficult for families, particularly large ones, to bear. (references)
	Cape Verde	The inefficiencies of the judicial system made it difficult for government institutions to address the problem. (references)
	Panama	Placement remains difficult despite a 1993 executive order granting tax incentives to firms that hire disabled employees. (references)
Civil Liberties	Burundi	Some IDP's were difficult to access. (references)
	Iran	However, education of Jewish children has become more difficult in recent years. (references)
	Georgia	Regular and reliable information about separatist-controlled Abkhazia is difficult to obtain. (references)
Discrimination	Panama	Cases of discrimination are difficult to prove, and legal remedies for victims are complicated, time-consuming, and costly. (references)
Economic History	Japan	This can be a difficult market. (references)
	Costa Rica	The fiscal situation is more difficult. (references)
Human Rights	Vietnam	However, many of the names included on these lists are difficult to verify. (references)
	Thailand	Prison authorities sometimes used solitary confinement to punish difficult prisoners. (references)
	Congo	Throughout the year, it was difficult to identify the armed groups responsible for attacks. (references)
Indigenous People	Paraguay	Furthermore, many indigenous people find it difficult to travel to the capital to solicit land titles or process the required documentation for land ownership. (references)
	Peru	Poor transportation and communications infrastructure in the highlands and in the Amazon jungle region makes political mobilization and organization difficult. (references)
Minorities	Brazil	Conditions are even more difficult for Afro-Brazilian women. (references)
Political Economy	RUSSIA	The right to strike is difficult to exercise. (references)
	COSTA RICA	Resolution of investment disputes remains difficult, however. (references)
	Latvia	In contrast, Latvia's relations with Russia remain difficult. (references)
Political Rights	Tunisia	The ruling RCD party so dominates all levels of political activity that credible electoral challenges have been extremely difficult. (references)
	Madagascar	Other parties criticized the elections as poorly organized and fraudulent; a lack of transparency made it difficult to assess reliably the extent of abuses. (references)
	Senegal	In addition political parties often rank women low on party lists, making it difficult for them to be elected to the National Assembly or to be appointed ministers. (references)
Trade	Japan	Thus, the import process is at times slow and difficult. (references)
	Chad	Medium term loans are difficult to obtain, as lending criteria are rigid. (references)
	Kenya	Some U.S. firms may find packaging and labeling requirements difficult to meet. (references)
Travel	Netherlands	Housing is often difficult to find and rents vary widely. (references)
	Luxembourg	Resident visas are difficult to obtain for non-EU citizens. (references)
	Mexico	Rental cars are very expensive (around U.S.$100/day and up) and Mexico City is difficult to navigate. (references)
Women	Morocco	Rural women perform difficult physical labor. (references)
	Senegal	Moreover traditional practices make it difficult for women to obtain bank credit. (references)
	Georgia	Domestic violence continued to rise as economic conditions became more difficult. (references)
Worker Rights	Albania	Many workers look for second jobs, which are difficult to find. (references)
	Cyprus	Estimates on the extent of the problem are difficult to obtain. (references)
	Armenia	Reliable information on trafficking has been difficult to obtain. (references)
Lexicography	Devil's Dictionary	NOUMENON, n. That which exists, as distinguished from that which merely seems to exist, the latter being a phenomenon. The noumenon is a bit difficult to locate; it can be apprehended only be a process of reasoning -- which is a phenomenon. Nevertheless, the discovery and exposition of noumena offer a rich field for what Lewes calls "the endless variety and excitement of philosophic thought." Hurrah (therefore) for the noumenon!
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Speaker	Phrase(s)
Dennis Miller	The balance between a free society and a safe society is a difficult one.
Elizabeth Taylor	Just difficult. Mine was completely different. I loved Michael. But we lived together like brother and sister. And I was too young. I was just too young for that.
Gene Wilder	Whatever anyone might have read in the book, that was only the start. It got much worse after that. It was very difficult.
Mariane Pearl	Good days, bad days, of course. It is difficult. I mean, personally, of course, but also, I do have a lot of strength also.
Marlo Thomas	Really. It would be very hard to do in a series, I think, week after week if you didn't like each other. I think that would be quite difficult.
Mary Tyler Moore	There are a few people like that, but I'm not one of them. I find it very difficult. But I'm never one to shirk a challenge.
Richard Armey	In this Congress probably this summer, I would hope by July. It's been very difficult to deal with the language of the Supreme Court decision.
Sarah Ferguson	Taking what you've done wrong and realizing that it's a been bonus, actually, and it's positive. It's quite a difficult thing to do.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Speaker	Term	Phrase(s)
Andrew Jackson	1829-1837	Neither is it to be disguised that the organization of our judicial system is at once a difficult and delicate task.
Harry S. Truman	1945-1953	I doubt if the tasks of the future are more difficult.
John F. Kennedy	1961-1963	Until that is done, difficult problems remain.
Lyndon B. Johnson	1963-1969	This has become more difficult in a world where change and growth seem to tower beyond the control and even the judgment of men.
Richard Nixon	1969-1974	President I realize that it is difficult to communicate meaningfully across the gulf of four years of war.
Gerald Ford	1974-1977	In all sectors, people met their difficult problems with the restraint and with responsibility worthy of their great heritage.
Jimmy Carter	1977-1981	Our role has been difficult and sometimes thankless and controversial.
Ronald Reagan	1981-1989	That we, too, worked together to bring America through difficult times.
Bill Clinton	1993-2001	Let us be candid about this difficult problem.
George W. Bush	2001-2005	For all Americans, it has been a year of adjustment, of coming to terms with the difficult knowledge that our nation has determined enemies, and that we are not invulnerable to their attacks.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

"Difficult" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Difficult" is used about 22,010 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Adjective (general or positive)	100%	22,010	402

The following table summarizes names derived from the word "difficult".
Name	Gender	Language	Meaning
Kish	N/A	Biblical	Difficult
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Expressions using "difficult": be difficult ♦ beastly difficult ♦ difficult area ♦ difficult of access ♦ difficult position ♦ difficult question ♦ difficult situation ♦ difficult to burn ♦ difficult to deal with ♦ difficult to find ♦ difficult to please ♦ find it difficult ♦ find it difficult to ♦ it is difficult ♦ it will be difficult ♦ it's difficult to reckon ♦ make difficult ♦ make more difficult ♦ man difficult to portray ♦ more difficult ♦ provably difficult ♦ quite difficult ♦ the difficult part. Additional references.
Hyphenated Usage
	Beginning with "difficult": difficult-looking, difficult-not, difficult-shaped, difficult-to-classify, difficult-to-define, difficult-to-digest, difficult-to-exercise, difficult-to-hit, difficult-to-keep, difficult-to-let, difficult-to-manage, difficult-to-photograph, difficult-to-pronounce-sounds, difficult-to-reach, difficult-to-read, difficult-to-serve, difficult-to-style, difficult-to-test, difficult-to-type, difficult-to-value.
	Ending with "difficult": extra-difficult, not-too-difficult, often-difficult.
	Containing "difficult": dealing-with-difficult-parents.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "difficult"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Afrikaans		moeilik (hard, inconvenient). (various references)

Albanian		nazeqar (choosy), këmbëngulës (assiduous, dogged, emphatic, exacting, insistent, lingering, patient, persevering, persistent, pressing, rebellious, tenacious, unremitting, unyielding, up and coming, urgent), i zorshëm (hard), i vështirë (awkward, convoluted, deep, exacting, formidable, hairy, hard, intractable, Kittle, labored, laborious, laboured, onerous, painful, parlous, recondite, rough, scabrous, stiff, ticklish, toilful, trying). (various references)

Arabic		صعب (difficulty, hard), ‏معقد (busy, complicate, complicated, convoluted, deep, doctrinarian, entangled, inextricable, intricacy, intricate, invalid, involute, knotted, knotty, nasty, perplexing, snarled, sophisticated, tangled, tangly, tricky), ‏عويص (abstract, abstruse, deep, opaque, profound, recondite, stiff, strenuous), ‏عسير (complicated, hard, intractable, knotty, malaise, precipitous, severe, strait, strenuous, stubborn, terrible, troublesome, uphill), ‏صعب الإرضاء (choosey, crabbed, dainty, fidgety, finical), ‏صعب (arduous, complicate, complicated, formidable, frustrating, hard and fast, harsh, hot stuff, knotty, lean, malaise, mure, nice, outrageous, risque, rough, rum, severe, sticky, stony, tartar, tricky, uneasy). (various references)

Basque		zail. (various references)

Bulgarian		труден (arduous, awkward, complex, difficile, dodgy, formidable, heavy, knotty, laborious, lively, painful, perplexed, perplexing, pick-and-shovel, rocky, sore, spiny, stroppy, taxing, thorny, ticklish, tight, tough, tricky, troublesome, uphill, warm), тежък (cumbrous, dense, distressing, faint, grave, grievous, grinding, hammering, hard, heavy, hefty, high, hulking, labored, laborious, laboured, leaden, lumping, lumpish, lumpy, massive, massy, muggy, onerous, painful, plodding, ponderous, robust, rugged, sad, severe, shrewd, sledgehammer, slow, smart, smashing, soggy, solemn, sore, stiff, stodgy, taxing, thorny, tight, tough, traumatic, trying, unwieldy, uphill, weighty), мъчен (awkward, formidable, hairy, ill, rum, rummy, stiff, tight, tough, trying). (various references)

Catalan		dificil (hard, inconvenient). (various references)

Chinese		艱難 , 艱苦 (arduous, hard), 艱 (hard, hardship), 難 (difficulty, disaster, distress, not good, problem, to scold), 嚴竣 (severe, stern, strict, tight), 彆 (awkward, contrary), 屯 (stingy, to station, to store up), 困难 (Difficulties, Difficulty, hardship), 不易 (not easy to do sth.), 別 (another, awkward, classify, contrary, depart, distinguish, do not, leave, must not, other, separate, to pin). (various references)

Czech		obtížný (difficile, dodgy, hard, heavy, nagging, onerous, painful, tricky, troublesome). (various references)

Danish		vanskelig (hard, inconvenient). (various references)

Dutch		zwaar (burdensome, deep, hard, hardly, heavy, important, inconvenient, not easily, onerous, serious, severe, strict, strong, vigorous, with difficulty), slim (clever, cunning, hard, inconvenient, sly, smart), moeilijk (inconvenient), lastig (hard, hardly, inconvenient, nasty, not easily, troublesome, with difficulty). (various references)

Esperanto		malfacila (hard, inconvenient). (various references)

Faeroese		torførur (complicated, hard, inconvenient). (various references)

Farsi		مشکل (Hard, Ill, Knot, Problem, Uphill), گرفتگیر, سخت گیر (Astringent, Hard, Intransigent, Priggish, Severe, Squeamish, Stern, Stickler, Strict, Unrelenting), سخت (Adjacent, Chronic, Crusty, Demanding, Dogged, Dour, Eburnated, Exquisite, Grave, Grim, Rigid, Rigorous, Rocky, Rugged, Serious, Severe, Sore, Steely, Stratify, Stringent, Strong, Troublesome), صعب (Unwieldy), دشوار (Arduous, Hard, Inexplicable, Intolerable, Laborious, Onerous, Slippery, Sore, Spiny, Sticky, Strait, Tough, Uphill). (various references)

Finnish		vastuksellinen (troublesome, trying), vaivalloinen (arduous, hard, laborious, onerous, troublesome, trying, wearisome), vaikea (hard, knotty, serious, severe, tough, tricky), tukala (awkward, embarrassing, hard), pulmallinen (complicated, hard, puzzling), hankala (inconvenient, troublesome). (various references)

French		difficile, dur. (various references)

German		schwierig (arduous, arduously, awkward, awkwardly, catchy, challenging, hard, stiff, tackling, tough, trying, upsetting, vexed), schwer (bad, badly, big, burdensome, critically, deeply, full, grave, gravely, grievous, hard, heavenly, heavily, heavy, hefty, inconvenient, labored, laborious, laboured, lumbering, onerous, powerful, rich, serious, seriously, severe, slow, solid, sorely, strong, tough, weighty), schwererziehbar. (various references)

Greek		δύσκολοσ (hard, knotty, labored, laboured, trying), δύσκολος (hard, prickly, tough, tricky, trying). (various references)

Hebrew		קשה (adamant, crusty, formidable, hard, harsh, heavy, severe, stern, stiff, Strait, tough), כבד (burdensome, dull, hard, heavy, leaden, massive, weighty). (various references)

Hungarian		nehéz (burdensome, complicated, cumbersome, cumbrous, damper, grave, grueling, gruelling, hard, hard case, heavy, hefty, herculean, inconvenient, it's a bad job!, knotty, laborious, onerous, ponderous, stiff, stodgy, teaser, thorny, to be bunkered, to be hard to please, tough, trying), nehézkes (backward, blunt, cumbersome, cumbrous, doltish, dull, fumbling, hulking, laborious, languid, logy, lubber, lubberly, lumbering, lumpish, pokey, rugged, slouch, sluggish, stiff, stodgy, stogy, sullen, uneasy), bajos (pernickety). (various references)

Icelandic		vandur (hard, inconvenient), þungur (burdensome, hard, heavy, inconvenient, onerous). (various references)

Indonesian		susah (doleful, hard), sukar (ardous, hard, hardly), payah (tired, troublesome), iseng (loquacious, troublesome), angel (strange, unsual). (various references)

Irish		deacair (hard). (various references)

Italian		difficile (arduous, awkward, catchy, difficult to please, fastidious, hard, inconvenient, problem, rough, severe, stiff, strained, stressful, tight, tough, tricky, trying, uneasy), pesante (burdensome, dull, grave, hard, heavy, inconvenient, lumpy, muggy, ponderous, serious, slow, stodgy, trying, weightily, weighty). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		苦しい (painful). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		なんかい (how many times?, southern sea), くるしい (painful), にくい (abominable, detestable, hard, hateful, poor-looking), かたい (carelessness, certain, firm, hard, honorable, lower leg, lower limbs, lower part of the body, mistake, negligence, solemn, solid, steadfast, stubborn, stuffy writing, unpolished writing), むずかしい, てづよい (resolute, strict, strong, stubborn, tough), てごわい (resolute, strict, strong, stubborn, tough). (various references)

Korean		곤란한. (various references)

Manx		trome (bold, burdensome, close, close oppressive, crippling, crippling burden, deep, deep-drawn, dense, dense of smoke, emphatic, expectant, expecting, grave, grievous, gruelling, hard, harsh, heavy, heavyweight, high pressure, intense, laborious, onerous, ponderous, pregnant, rough of sea, severe, sledge-hammer, steep, stodgy, substantial, sweated, wearying, weighty, with child), noi-vreihagh (cussed, malgrained), neuaashagh (awkward, discontented, restless, uneasy), mooar (big, bold, bold promintary, capacious, chief, commodious, extensive, extravagant, familiar, grand, great, grievous, heavy, hit off, hobnob, intense, intimate, loose-fitting, major, marked, powerful, tall), doillee (hard, stiff, ticklish), doccar (arduousness, labour, struggle), creoi (adamant, bitter, bitter of frost, blistering, blistering as language, distressing, dry, hard, hard-boiled, hard-set, hardy, heartless, near, near with money, neat, obdurate, solid, steely, stiff, stiffen, stubborn, tough). (various references)

Norwegian		vanskelig (hard, inconvenient). (various references)

Occitan		malaisit. (various references)

Papiamen		difísil (hard, inconvenient), fregá (hard, inconvenient). (various references)

Pig Latin		ifficultday.(various references)

Polish		trudny (hard, inconvenient). (various references)

Portuguese		difícil (arduous, cornered, cramped, difficile, fussy, go-ahead, hard, inconvenient, kid-glove, knotty, labored, laboured, nice, painful, pernickety, ponderous, puzzling, rugged, thankless, thorny, ticklish, tough, tricky, trying, well-made). (various references)

Portuguese Brazilian		difícil. (various references)

Romanian		greu (annoying, arduous, awkward, burden, burdensome, busy, clumsy, dangerously, difficulty, fatiguing, gravely, grievous, hard, hardly, heavily, heavy, inconvenient, labored, laborious, laboured, leaden, lot, massive, massy, near, onerous, oppressive, painful, parlous, precarious, punitive, reluctantly, scarcely, seriously, severe, solid, stiff, stodgy, stolid, strenuous, stuffy, ticklish, toilful, tough, troublesome, trying, uneasy, uphill, wearisome, weary, weight, weighty). (various references)

Russian		трудный (arduous, baffling, formidable, hard, labored, laborious, laboured, man-sized, narrow, painful, toilful, toilsome, trying, unmanageable), трудно трудный, затруднительный (awkward, baffling, embarrassing, nonplussed). (various references)

Scottish		doirbh (hard, inconvenient). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		tegoban (burdensome, onerous), težak (bulky, crushing, difficile, formidable, grave, hard, heavy, hefty, kittle, labored, laborious, laboured, leaden, lumbering, ponderous, punishing, rough, swingeing, trying, uneasy, weighty), koji pravi teškoće, jogunast (balky, baulky, capricious, obstinate, refractory, thwart). (various references)

Spanish		dificil (hard, inconvenient), difícil (arduous, awkward, complicated, complicative, delicate, difficile, grave, hard, heavy, off putting, painful, picky, problem, tender, touch and go, tough, tricky, wild). (various references)

Swedish		svår (arduous, bad, catchy, excessive, grievous, hard, heavy, inconvenient, parlous, rough, rugged, severe, sore, strong, taxing, testing, tough), besvärlig (annoying, awkward, bothersome, cumbersome, cumbrous, incommodious, pestiferous, plaguesome, plaguey, plaguy, sticky, tough, troublesome, trying, uphill, warm, worrisome). (various references)

Thai		ยาก (hard, tight). (various references)

Turkish		zor beğenen (choosy, exacting, fastidious, finical, finicking, finicky, fussy, queasy), zor (arduous, baffling, constraint, crucial, cruel, exacting, force, formidable, hairy, hard, inconvenient, knotty, main, mean, might, rough, sticky, stiff, strain, tight, trickish, uneasy), titiz (careful, choosy, cleanly, critical, dainty, demanding, exact, exacting, exigent, fastidious, finical, finicking, finicky, fussy, hypercritical, jealous, jealous of, meticulous, niggling, niminy-piminy, particular, peevish, pernickety, picky, rigorous, scrupulous, squeamish, touchy), müşkülpesent (choosy, demanding, exacting, exigent, fastidious, particular, picky), inatçı (balky, bullet-head, bull-headed, cantankerous, contrary, contumacious, cussed, die hard, dogged, dour, fractious, hard bitten, hard-headed, hard-mouthed, hard-nosed, headstrong, heady, indocile, inflexible, insistent, intractable, mule, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, obstinate person, opinionated, persistent, pertinacious, perverse, pigheaded, rebellious, recalcitrant, refractory, restive, self willed, self-opinionated, set, spiky, stern, sticker, stickler, sticky, stiff necked, strongheaded, strong-willed, stubborn, tenacious, unbending, uncompromising, unyielding, wilful, willful, wrongheaded), huysuz (acrimonious, as cross as two sticks, bad tempered, bilious, cantankerous, churlish, crabbed, crabby, crank, cranky, cross-grained, crosspatch, crotchety, crusty, cursed, disagreeable, disgruntled, doggish, farouche, fractious, fretful, gnarled, grouchy, gruff, grumbling, grumpy, ill natured, ill tempered, ill-humored, ill-humoured, liverish, mean, Moody, out of humour, out of sorts, peeved, peevish, peppery, perverse, pettish, petulant, prickly, quarrelsome, querulous, ratty, rusty, shirty, snappish, spleenful, spleenish, splenetic, stroppy, sulky, surly, tetchy, thrawn, ugly, untoward, vicious, vixenish, waspish, wildcat, wrongheaded), geçimsiz (cantankerous, out of tune, peppery, quarrelsome, unmusical), güç (ability, arduous, arm, baffling, capability, capacity, clout, clutch, clutches, command, control, dominance, energy, force, forcefulness, hard, intensity, iron, might, pep, pith, potency, potential, power, punch, rod, sinew, spirit, stamina, steam, sting, strength, stuffing, sword, tone, tricksy, vigor, vigour, vim, vis, vitality, zing), belâlı (bully, calamitous, hard bitten, pesky, plaguy, thorny, troublesome), çetin (arduous, dingdong, hard, robust, rugged, stiff, tough), çatal (bifurcated, clevis, crotch, fork, forked, prong, two sided). (various references)

Turkmen		mьзgil (hard), kyn, зetin, зatak. (various references)

Ukrainian		скрутний (awkward, baffling, embarrassing, narrow, necessitous, onerous, spiny), тяжкий (arduous, baffling, capital, chargeable, cumbersome, uphill), трудний (awkward), важкий (arduous, awkward, baffling, chargeable, complex, hard, heavy, heavyweight, laborious, leaden, muggy, near, opulent, ponderous, robust, sweaty, toilful, toilsome, trying, wall eyed, walloping, weighty). (various references)

Vietnamese		khó khăn (arduous, arduously, hard, kittle, thick, thorny, uneasy), khó, gay go khó tính. (various references)

Welsh		anodd (hard, inconvenient), anhawdd (hard, inconvenient). (various references)

Yucatec		yah (ache, hard, inconvenient, pain). (various references)

Zulu		-nzima (hard, inconvenient). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	ardua, arduus, difficile, difficilem, difficiles, difficilia, difficilis, inpedita, inpediti, inpeditioris, inpeditis, inpeditus. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "difficult": difficulties, difficultly, difficulty. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Difficult" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: diffacult, diffcult, diffic, difficclt, difficelt, difficile, difficlt, difficoult, difficul, difficulkt, diffilcult, dificult, difiicult, diifficult, diificult. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "difficult" (pronounced di"fukult)
3	-u l t	tumult.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "c-d-f-f-i-i-l-t-u"
	-2 letters: fluidic.
	-3 letters: fitful.
	-4 letters: cliff, clift, culti, fluid, licit, lucid, ludic.
	-5 letters: clit, cuff, cuif, cult, duci, duct, duff, duit, flic, flit, fuci, lift, litu, luff, tiff, tuff.
	Words containing the letters "c-d-f-f-i-i-l-t-u"
	+1 letter: difficulty.
	+2 letters: difficultly.
	+3 letters: difficulties.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

P		Solvable in polynomial time (see Complexity classes P and NP)
NP		YES answers checkable in polynomial time (see Complexity classes P and NP)
Co-NP		NO answers checkable in polynomial time
NP-complete		The hardest problems in NP
Co-NP-complete		The hardest problems in Co-NP
NP-hard		Either NP-complete or harder
NP-easy		non-decision-problem analogue to NP
NP-equivalent		non-decision-problem analogue to NP-complete
UP		Unambiguous Non-Deterministic Polytime functions.
#P		Count solutions to an NP problem
#P-complete		The hardest problems in #P
NC		Solvable efficiently on parallel computers
P-complete		The hardest problems in P to solve on parallel computers
PSPACE		Solvable with polynomial memory and unlimited time
PSPACE-complete		The hardest problems in PSPACE
EXPTIME		Solvable with exponential time
EXPSPACE		Solvable with exponential memory and unlimited time
BQP		Solvable in polynomial time on a quantum computer (answer is probably right)
BPP		Solvable in polynomial time by randomized algorithms (answer is probably right)
RP		Solvable in polynomial time by randomized algorithms (NO answer is probably right, YES is certainly right)
ZPP		Solvable by randomized algorithms (answer is always right, average running time is polynomial)
PCP		Checkable in polynomial time by a randomized algorithm.

Expression	Frequency per Day	Expression	Frequency per Day
difficult people	286	managing difficult employee	9
dealing with difficult people	104	difficult conversation	8
difficult riddle	35	difficult relationship break up	8
deal with difficult people	33	difficult iq test	7
difficult child	30	difficult intubation	7
boss difficult	24	difficult coworkers	7
difficult	22	difficult personality	7
dealing with difficult employee	21	dealing difficult parent	7
difficult employee	19	difficult question	7
difficult airway	17	difficult pregnancy	7
difficult teen	14	boss dealing difficult	6
difficult co worker	12	difficult parent	6
working with difficult people	12	difficult jazzy music singer song	6
difficult words	12	client difficult	6
managing difficult people	10	difficult search word	6
dealing with difficult customer	10	difficult student	6
can difficult this video	10	coloring difficult page	6
difficult customer	10	handling difficult people	5
handle difficult people	10	difficult find information often that	5
child difficult resource	10	difficult urination	5
difficult interview question	9	difficult teenager	5
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.


"Inside computers 6" by Marcio Simioni Commentary: "Well, I needed some photos like this to use in an ad and it was really difficult to find. So, if someone needs it now, won't have to open the cpu."	"Flying" by Joanka Betlej Commentary: "It't difficult to catch a pigeon flying."
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers.

Difficult

Definition: Difficult

Difficult

Adjective

Specialty Definition: Computational complexity theory

Decision Problems

The P=NP Question

Famous Complexity Classes

Abbreviations & Acronyms: Difficult

Synonym: Difficult

Synonyms within Context: Difficult

Difficulty

Fastidiousness

Crosswords: Difficult

Modern Usage: Difficult

Screenplays

Clever

Movie/TV Titles

Commercial Usage: Difficult

Books

Theater & Movies

Music

Image Slideshow: Difficult

Photos:Difficult

Photo Album: Difficult

Digital Photo Gallery: Difficult

Sounds Captioned with "Difficult".

Familiar Quotations: Difficult

(Decimus Junius Juvenalis) Juvenal

Benedict Spinoza

Homer

Horace

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Plutarch

Samuel Johnson

William Cowper

Historic Usage: Difficult

John Locke

Treaty of Versailles

Winston S. Churchill

Use in Literature: Difficult

Emma

Austen, Jane

Alice in Wonderland

Carroll, Lewis

A Christmas Carol

Dickens, Charles

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Douglas Adams

Les Miserables

Hugo, Victor

Trainspotting

Irvine Welsh

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Joyce, James

Non-Fiction Usage: Difficult

Lexicography

Devil's Dictionary

Spoken Usage: Difficult

Dennis Miller

Elizabeth Taylor

Gene Wilder

Mariane Pearl

Marlo Thomas

Mary Tyler Moore

Richard Armey

Sarah Ferguson

Speeches: Difficult

Andrew Jackson

Harry S. Truman

John F. Kennedy

Lyndon B. Johnson

Richard Nixon

Gerald Ford

Jimmy Carter

Ronald Reagan

Bill Clinton

George W. Bush

Usage Frequency: Difficult

Derived & Related Names: Difficult

Photos:
Difficult