DIFFICULT

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does difficult mean? 

• DIFFICULT (adjective)
  The adjective DIFFICULT has 2 senses:

1. not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure

2. hard to control

  Familiarity information: DIFFICULT used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DIFFICULT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure

Synonyms:

difficult; hard

Context example:

why is it so hard for you to keep a secret?

Similar:

herculean (extremely difficult; requiring the strength of a Hercules)

vexed (causing difficulty in finding an answer or solution; much disputed)

trying (hard to endure)

troublesome (causing difficulty or annoyance)

thorny (bristling with perplexities)

tall (impressively difficult)

serious (requiring effort or concentration; complex and not easy to answer or solve)

rugged; tough (very difficult; severely testing stamina or resolution)

rocky; rough (full of hardship or trials)

nasty; tight (exasperatingly difficult to handle or circumvent)

hard-fought (requiring great effort)

fractious (unpredictably difficult in operation; likely to be troublesome)

delicate; ticklish; touchy (difficult to handle; requiring great tact)

catchy; tricky (having concealed difficulty)

baffling; elusive; knotty; problematic; problematical; tough (making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe)

awkward; embarrassing; sticky; unenviable (hard to deal with; especially causing pain or embarrassment)

arduous (difficult to accomplish; demanding considerable mental effort and skill)

ambitious; challenging (requiring full use of your abilities or resources)

Also:

demanding (requiring more than usually expected or thought due; especially great patience and effort and skill)

hard (dispassionate)

effortful (requiring great physical effort)

Attribute:

difficultness; difficulty (the quality of being difficult)

Antonym:

easy (posing no difficulty; requiring little effort)

Derivation:

difficultness (the quality of being difficult)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Hard to control

Synonyms:

difficult; unmanageable

Context example:

an unmanageable situation

Similar:

indocile; uncontrollable; ungovernable; unruly (incapable of being controlled)

incorrigible (difficult or impossible to manage or control)

uncheckable (incapable of being checked or restrained)

Also:

defiant; noncompliant (boldly resisting authority or an opposing force)

disobedient (not obeying or complying with commands of those in authority)

intractable (not tractable; difficult to manage or mold)

 Context examples 

It is your commonplace, featureless crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is the most difficult to identify.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Acoustic neuroma can be difficult to diagnose, because the symptoms are similar to those of middle ear problems.

(Acoustic Neuroma, NIH: National Institute of Deafness and Communication Disorders)

He found it difficult to keep up the circulation in that hand.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

For an hour I steered, each moment becoming more difficult.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

All of these make it difficult for them to make friends.

(Asperger Syndrome, NIH: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development)

Constipation is when stool becomes hard, dry, and difficult to pass and bowel movements occur less often than normal.

(Aganglionic megacolon, NCI Dictionary)

One reason it is difficult to find a triplet of supermassive black holes is that they are likely to be shrouded in gas and dust, blocking much of their light.

(Three Black Holes on Collision Course, NASA)

However, Lyme disease can be difficult to diagnose because it causes a wide range of symptoms, from fever and rash to neurologic and cardiac symptoms and joint pain.

(Scientists work toward a rapid point-of-care diagnostic test for Lyme disease, National Institutes of Health)

In addition, live brains are difficult to manipulate in experimental research.

(Neuromorphic Metallic Nanowire Network Shows Human Brain-Like Functions, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

“Since Jupiter is so cold, any water vapour in its atmosphere would be condensed, making it difficult to measure,” said Welbanks.

(Water common – yet scarce – in exoplanets, University of Cambridge)