Meaning & use
difficult
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Needing much effort or skill to accomplish, deal with, or understand.
Grammar: Can take a to-infinitive: a difficult problem to solve.
Patterns
- difficult to do something
- a difficult time/question/task
- find something difficult
The exam was difficult, but I managed to pass.
She found it difficult to adjust to the new schedule.
Learning a tone language is difficult for many adult learners.
adjectivecomparable
Hard to please, deal with, or get along with; uncooperative.
Grammar: Describes a person's behavior, not their intelligence.
Patterns
- a difficult child/customer
- be difficult about something
- difficult to work with
The toddler was tired and being difficult at the store.
Our neighbor is a difficult man to get along with.
Don't be difficult about it — just sign the form.
adjectivenot comparable
Full of problems or causing hardship; hard to endure.
Grammar: Usually before a noun: difficult times, difficult conditions.
Patterns
- difficult times/circumstances
- in a difficult position
The company survived several difficult years during the recession.
He's in a difficult position and needs honest advice.
Word forms
| comparative | more difficult |
|---|---|
| superlative | most difficult |
Common combinations
- a difficult decision
- Choosing between the two job offers was a difficult decision.
- find something difficult
- Many students find physics difficult at first.
- difficult to understand
- His handwriting is difficult to read.
- difficult times
- We stuck together through difficult times.
- a difficult question
- The journalist asked a difficult question about the budget.
Synonyms and how they differ
- hard
- Hard is the everyday synonym; difficult is slightly more formal and common in writing.
- challenging
- Challenging has a more positive tone, suggesting something demanding but rewarding.
- demanding
- Demanding stresses the heavy requirements something places on a person.
- tough
- Tough is informal and often used about situations, choices, or people.
Opposites
Word family
- difficulty noun
- The state of being difficult, or a problem.
- difficultly adverb
- In a difficult way; rare in everyday speech.
Commonly confused: difficult or different?
difficult vs different
Different means not the same; difficult means needing much effort. Mixing them up changes the meaning completely.
Practice
Which sentence uses difficult correctly to describe a person?
Choose one answer.
When difficult describes a person, it means hard to deal with or please — refusing to cooperate fits. Options 3 and 4 describe cooperative or capable students, and option 1 wrongly suggests the student's intelligence.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “difficult”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.