...the difficulty of getting accurate information.
The country is facing great economic difficulties.
2. uncountable noun
If you have difficulty doing something, you are not able to do it easily.
Do you have difficulty getting up?
The injured man mounted his horse with difficulty.
Synonyms: hardship, labour, pain, strain More Synonyms of difficulty
3.
See in difficulty
More Synonyms of difficulty
difficulty in British English
(ˈdɪfɪkəltɪ)
nounWord forms: plural-ties
1.
the state or quality of being difficult
2.
a task, problem, etc, that is hard to deal with
3. (often plural)
a troublesome or embarrassing situation, esp a financial one
4.
a dispute or disagreement
5. (often plural)
an objection or obstacle
he always makes difficulties
6.
a trouble or source of trouble; worry
7.
lack of ease; awkwardness
he could run only with difficulty
Word origin
C14: from Latin difficultās, from difficilis difficult, from dis- not + facilis easy, facile
difficulty in American English
(ˈdɪfɪˌkʌlti; ˈdɪfɪˌkəlti)
nounWord forms: pluralˈdiffiˌculties
1.
the condition or fact of being difficult
2.
something that is difficult, as a hard problem or an obstacle or objection
3.
trouble, distress, etc., or a cause of this
4.
a disagreement or quarrel
Idioms:
in difficulties
SYNONYMY NOTE: difficulty is applied to anything hard to contend with, without restriction as to nature, intensity,etc. [a slight difficulty, great difficulty]; hardship, stronger in connotation, suggests suffering, privation, or trouble that is extremelyhard to bear [the hardships of poverty]; rigor suggests severe hardship but further connotes that it is imposed by external, impersonalcircumstances beyond one's control [the rigors of winter]; vicissitude, a bookish word, suggests a difficulty that is likely to occur in the course of something,often one inherent in a situation [the vicissitudes of political life]
Word origin
ME & OFr difficulte < L difficultas < difficilis, difficult < dis-, not + facilis, easy: see facile
Examples of 'difficulty' in a sentence
difficulty
It is accepted that the school was experiencing serious financial difficulty.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Sometimes obstacles are mere difficulties to be overcome.
Times, Sunday Times (2017)
Your son may or may not have had learning difficulties that affected his school outcome.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Now the club will find out whether they are to be penalised on the field for their financial difficulties off it.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Now Black will have great difficulty defending all his queenside weaknesses.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
He faces trial this year accused of the 1974 attempted murder of a man with learning difficulties.
The Sun (2017)
This is the great difficulty.
The Sun (2016)
Perhaps it was the difficulty of getting his ideas across to a new set of players, whom he admits do not fit his ideal system.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
With great difficulty he learned to restrain himself.
Zindell, David The Broken God (1993)
That panel would encourage firms in financial difficulties to go to it for advice.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
Women inspectors were appointed to deal with that difficulty.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
They have great difficulty getting out of bed in the mornings and are exhausted all day.
Trickett, Shirley Coming Off Tranquillizers and Sleeping Pills (1991)
And objections and difficulties no one thought about suddenly turn out to be almost insurmountable obstacles.
Peter F. Drucker THE ESSENTIAL DRUCKER (2001)
Remember there are people out in the country who have difficulties and want to hear the case.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
Usually you can charm your way out of difficulties with astonishing ease.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
What might have been only a little local difficulty became a national scandal.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
Sometimes obstacles are just difficulties to be overcome.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
She has some learning difficulties and she was taunted.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
Symptoms include learning difficulties and behavioural problems.
The Sun (2014)
Having the other couple there certainly helped to ease the difficulty.
Christianity Today (2000)
One difficulty is lack of an absolute standard for defining excessive absenteeism.
Tompkins, Jonathan Human Resource Management in Government (1995)
We few had little difficulty in keeping them in their places.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Choosing the right kind of tree and planting it in the right place presents a great many difficulties.
Page, Russell The Education of a Gardener (1994)
They were reported to have suffered financial difficulties after guests complained the house was filthy and infested with rats.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
One of the difficulties in dealing with it lay in a lack of real knowledge about its extent and depth.
Hebblethwaite, Peter Paul VI - The First Modern Pope (1993)
If the tourists do not come, the resulting economic difficulties provide a breeding ground for extremism.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
It's a legacy that the country still has difficulty coming to terms with.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
Most of those Footsie constituents to improve were targeted for their relative resilience in times of economic difficulty.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
It is not prepared for the difficulties, troubles, and problems which inevitably follow the most harmonious and most logical acquisition.
Peter F. Drucker MANAGEMENT: task, responsibilities, practices (1974)
Quotations
Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubtCardinal NewmanApologia pro Vita Sua
Difficulties are things that show what men areEpictetusDiscourses
Difficulty gives all things their estimationMontaigneEssays
In other languages
difficulty
British English: difficulty /ˈdɪfɪkltɪ/ NOUN
A difficulty is a problem.
...economic difficulties.
American English: difficulty
Arabic: صُعُوبَة
Brazilian Portuguese: dificuldade
Chinese: 困难
Croatian: teškoća
Czech: obtížnost
Danish: vanskelighed
Dutch: moeilijkheid
European Spanish: dificultad
Finnish: vaikeus
French: difficulté
German: Schwierigkeit
Greek: δυσκολία
Italian: difficoltà
Japanese: 困難
Korean: 어려움
Norwegian: vanskelighet
Polish: trudność
European Portuguese: dificuldade
Romanian: dificultate
Russian: сложность
Latin American Spanish: dificultad
Swedish: svårighet
Thai: ความยากลำบาก
Turkish: güçlük
Ukrainian: труднощі
Vietnamese: sự khó khăn
Chinese translation of 'difficulty'
difficulty
(ˈdɪfɪkəltɪ)
n
(c) (= problem) 困难(難) (kùnnan) (个(個), gè)
(u)[of question, exam]难(難)度 (nándù)
to have difficulty/difficulties有困难(難) (yǒu kùnnan)
to be in difficulty陷入困境 (xiànrù kùnjìng)
he stood up with difficulty他艰(艱)难(難)地站了起来(來) (tā jiānnán de zhànle qǐlái)
1 (noun)
Definition
an objection or obstacle
The main difficulty has been getting enough students to try out the scheme.
Synonyms
problem
the economic problems of the inner city
trouble
a charity that helps women in trouble with the law
obstacle
Overcrowding remains a large obstacle to improving conditions.
hurdle
The weather will be the biggest hurdle.
dilemma
The issue raises a moral dilemma.
hazard
a sole that reduces the hazard of slipping on slick surfaces
complication
The age difference was a complication to the relationship.
hassle (informal)
I don't think it's worth the money or the hassle.
snag
A police crackdown hit a snag when villains stole one of their cars.
uphill (South Africa)
This job has been a real uphill.
predicament
pitfall
The pitfalls of working abroad are numerous.
stumbling block
Perhaps the major stumbling block is the military presence.
impediment
There is no legal impediment to the marriage.
hindrance
Higher rates have been a hindrance to economic recovery.
tribulation
quandary
The anonymous letter creates a quandary for the judge.
can of worms (informal)
point at issue
disputed point
2 (noun)
Definition
lack of ease
The injured man mounted his horse with difficulty.
Synonyms
hardship
Many people are suffering economic hardship.
labour
pain
Her eyes were filled with pain.
strain
The prison service is already under considerable strain.
awkwardness
It was a moment of some awkwardness in our relationship.
painfulness
strenuousness
arduousness
laboriousness
3 (noun)
Definition
the state or quality of being difficult
questions arranged in no particular order of difficulty
Synonyms
complexity
a diplomatic problem of great complexity
involvement
complication
Her poetry was characterised by a complication of imagery and ideas.
intricacy
Garments are priced according to the intricacy of the work.
hardness
convolution
the size, shape and convolutions of the human brain
difficultness
abstruseness
phrase
See in difficulty or difficulties
Quotations
Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt [Cardinal Newman – Apologia pro Vita Sua]Difficulties are things that show what men are [Epictetus – Discourses]Difficulty gives all things their estimation [Montaigne – Essays]
Additional synonyms
in the sense of abstruseness
Synonyms
obscurity,
depth,
complexity,
subtlety,
vagueness,
perplexity,
profundity,
esotericism,
incomprehensibility,
mysteriousness,
deepness,
arcaneness,
occultness,
reconditeness
in the sense of awkwardness
It was a moment of some awkwardness in our relationship.
Synonyms
embarrassment,
difficulty,
discomfort,
delicacy,
unpleasantness,
inconvenience,
stickiness (informal),
painfulness,
ticklishness,
uphill (South Africa),
thorniness,
inopportuneness,
perplexingness,
untimeliness
in the sense of complication
Definition
something which makes a situation more difficult to deal with
The age difference was a complication to the relationship.