difficulty

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noun

British English pronunciation: difficulty

/ˈdɪfɪk(ə)lti/

singular	difficulty
plural	difficulties

Other entries for this word

Related dictionary definitions

Metaphor

1
[uncountable] if you have difficulty with something, you are not able to do it easily
have difficulty with something:
She's having difficulty with her schoolwork this year.
have difficulty (in) doing something:
Six months after the accident, he still has difficulty walking.
great/considerable difficulty:
We had considerable difficulty finding anywhere to park.
do something with/without difficulty:
Seb was speaking with great difficulty.
Thesaurus entry for this meaning of difficulty
2
[countable] a problem
learning/reading/breathing difficulties
difficulty with/in:
If you experience difficulties in completing the form, ask for help.
have/experience/encounter difficulties:
students who encounter financial difficulties
cause/give rise to/lead to a difficulty:
Implementing the policy caused difficulties within the company.
the difficulty is:
The real difficulty is that no one in the group has a car.
a difficulty arises:
New difficulties arose from this arrangement.
Thesaurus entry for this meaning of difficulty
Collocations: difficulty
Collocations
difficulty2
▪ encounter, experience, face, find, have
3
[uncountable/plural] a bad situation with a lot of problems
in difficulty:
The loss puts our company in financial difficulty.
get/run into difficulty:
The climbers got into difficulties when there was a sudden storm.
Thesaurus entry for this meaning of difficulty
4
[uncountable] how difficult something is
The courses vary in content and difficulty.
Thesaurus entry for this meaning of difficulty

Metaphor: difficulty

Metaphor

A difficult idea or situation is like a knot or something that is tied up, tangled, or twisted. When you deal with it successfully, it is like untying it and getting rid of the knots and tangles.

This is a really knotty problem.
I was tying myself in knots trying to understand how the system worked.
Our financial affairs were in a complete tangle.
I spent ages trying to sort it out.
Sometimes it's hard to disentangle fact from fiction.
You need to tease out all the implications of the question.
It would take a genius to unravel the complexities of his business dealings.
These are difficult situations, and it takes time to straighten them out.
No government has yet had the courage to cut the Gordian knot of the pensions crisis.

➡ problem, situation, understand

This is the British English definition of difficulty. View American English definition of difficulty.

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View the pronunciation for difficulty.

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