difficulty

noun

dif·​fi·​cul·​ty ˈdi-fi-(ˌ)kəl-tē 

plural difficulties

1

: the quality or state of being hard to do, deal with, or understand : the quality or state of being difficult

underestimated the difficulty of the task

couldn't breathe without difficulty

has difficulty reading

climbs stairs with difficulty

2

: something that is not easy to do or deal with

had to overcome many difficulties in life

having financial difficulties

3

: controversy, disagreement

unable to resolve their difficulties

4

: objection

made no difficulty in granting the request

Synonyms of difficulty

• hardship

Examples of difficulty in a Sentence

She underestimated the difficulty of saving so much money.

the many difficulties that he encountered on the road from poor orphan to head of a major corporation

Recent Examples on the Web

Springfield points out the historical difficulty of making toxins into aerosols. — Chris Klimek, Vulture, 9 Sep. 2026

But new guidance from the Texas Medical Board includes only a case study with an ectopic pregnancy that can be seen in an ultrasound, remaining silent on the difficulty of early ultrasounds to detect where a pregnancy has implanted. — Andrea Suozzo, ProPublica, 9 Sep. 2026

Civilian toll Compounding the difficulty of controlling the acquisition of drones by organized crime groups is the fact that some security forces have adopted them as weapons. — Sol Amaya, CNN Money, 9 Sep. 2026

That’s not to say there isn’t opportunity — Netflix and Amazon spent about $40 billion combined on video and music content last year — but the degree of difficulty, especially for the sports stars dabbling in unfamiliar territory, has intensified. — Justin Birnbaum, HollywoodReporter, 9 Sep. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English difficulte, borrowed from Anglo-French & Latin; Anglo-French difficulté, borrowed from Latin difficultāt-, difficultās, from difficilis "hard to do, troublesome, intractable" (from dif-, probably assimilated form of dis- dis- + facilis "easy, accommodating") + -tāt-, -tās -ty — more at facile

Note: Latin difficultās presumably goes back to *dis-fakli-tāts and follows the same path as the base word, from *faklitāts to attested facultās (see faculty), with regular vowel weakening in a non-initial syllable. The word difficilis is derivationally peculiar, as the prefix dis- is regularly applied only to verbs and is not primarily privative—the expected negative counterpart to facilis should have been *infacilis. It has been hypothesized that dis- in this case is a permutation of *dus-, corresponding to Greek dys- "bad, ill" (see dys-; *dus- is otherwise unattested in Latin), or that difficilis is modeled on dissimilis "unlike" (see dissimilar; the adjective similis "like" takes a range of ordinarily verbal prefixes, perhaps following Greek equivalents). Neither solution is entirely satisfactory.

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing difficulty

• learning difficulty

Kids Definition

difficulty

noun

dif·​fi·​cul·​ty ˈdif-ə-(ˌ)kəl-tē 

plural difficulties

1

: difficult nature

the difficulty of a task

2

: great effort

walked with difficulty

3

: something that is hard to do : obstacle

overcome difficulties

4

: a difficult or trying situation : trouble

in financial difficulties

5

: a disagreement in opinion

we ironed out our difficulties