difficulty

noun

dif·​fi·​cul·​ty ˈdi-fi-(ˌ)kəl-tē How to pronounce difficulty (audio)
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
has difficulty reading
climbs stairs with difficulty
2
: controversy, disagreement
unable to resolve their difficulties
3
: objection
made no difficulty in granting the request
4
: something difficult : impediment
encountering difficulties along the way
5
: embarrassment, trouble
usually used in plural
financial difficulties

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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Some players have been mixed on the game's difficulty – or lack thereof – and PC optimization could certainly be better, but nobody has any complaints about the gameplay itself. Oliver Brandt, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 July 2025 In times of crisis, having no financial cushion means that a franchise brand may not only have insufficient funds to keep going when income is restricted, but also may not have the ability to make the changes needed to navigate the difficulties ahead. Fiona Simpson, Forbes.com, 4 July 2025 Investigators allege James Craig bought arsenic and cyanide days before his wife was poisoned to death, searched online about how to poison someone, was having an affair and faced financial difficulties. Shelly Bradbury, Denver Post, 4 July 2025 Amid all the difficulties the country faces, the losses in space science might seem trivial. Adam Frank, The Atlantic, 4 July 2025 See All Example Sentences for difficulty

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

Time Traveler
The first known use of difficulty was in the 14th century

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Cite this Entry

“Difficulty.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/difficulty. Accessed 10 Jul. 2025.

Kids Definition

difficulty

noun
dif·​fi·​cul·​ty ˈdif-ə-(ˌ)kəl-tē How to pronounce difficulty (audio)
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

More from Merriam-Webster on difficulty

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