difficultadjective
uk/ˈdɪf.ɪ.kəlt/us/ˈdɪf.ə.kəlt/A1 needing skill or effort:
a difficult problem/choice/task/language
[ + to infinitive ] It will be very difficult to prove that they are guilty.
Many things make it difficult for women to reach the top in US business.
[ + -ing verb ] It is extremely difficult being a single parent.
Opposite
easy
B1 not friendly, easy to deal with, or behaving well:
[ + to infinitive ] The manager is difficult to deal with/a difficult person to deal with.
His wife is a very difficult woman.
mainly UK Please children, don't be so difficult!
More examples
- This meat is difficult to chew.
- The noise outside made it difficult to concentrate.
- It must be difficult to cope with three small children and a job.
- She has had to make some very difficult decisions.
- This novel is too difficult for intermediate students of English.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Complicated and difficult to do
- advanced
- ambitious
- another
- arduous
- as much as you can do idiom
- fiendish
- fierce
- formidable
- get blood out of/from a stone idiom
- gruelling
- murky
- picnic
- problematic
- punishing
- rigorous
- schlep
- uphill
- vexed
- wearing
- wearying
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