difficulty Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun an effort that is inconvenient
trouble.
- I went to a lot of trouble
- he won without any trouble
- had difficulty walking
- finished the test only with great difficulty
noun a factor causing trouble in achieving a positive result or tending to produce a negative result
- serious difficulties were encountered in obtaining a pure reagent
noun a condition or state of affairs almost beyond one's ability to deal with and requiring great effort to bear or overcome
- grappling with financial difficulties
noun the quality of being difficult
difficultness.
- they agreed about the difficulty of the climb

L. difficultas, fr. difficilis difficult; dif- = dis- + facilis easy: cf. F. difficulté. See Facile.

plural Difficulties

The state of being difficult, or hard to do; hardness; arduousness; -- opposed to easiness or facility; as, the difficulty of a task or enterprise; a work of difficulty.
Not being able to promote them [the interests of life] on account of the difficulty of the region. James Byrne.
Something difficult; a thing hard to do or to understand; that which occasions labor or perplexity, and requires skill perseverance to overcome, solve, or achieve; a hard enterprise; an obstacle; an impediment; as, the difficulties of a science; difficulties in theology.
They lie under some difficulties by reason of the emperor's displeasure. Addison.
A controversy; a falling out; a disagreement; an objection; a cavil.
Measures for terminating all local difficulties. Bancroft.
Embarrassment of affairs, especially financial affairs; -- usually in the plural; as, to be in difficulties.
In days of difficulty and pressure. Tennyson.
Syn. -- Impediment; obstacle; obstruction; embarrassment; perplexity; exigency; distress; trouble; trial; objection; cavil. See Impediment.