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difficulty

Pronunciation: /ˈdɪfɪkəlti/

The English word “difficulty” has 6 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. The state of being difficult, or hard to do.
  2. An obstacle that hinders achievement of a goal.
  3. Physical danger from the environment, especially with risk of drowning
  4. An objection.
  5. That which cannot be easily understood or believed.
  6. An awkward situation or quarrel.

Etymology

From Middle English difficulte, from Middle French and Anglo-Norman difficulte and their etymon Latin difficultas, from difficul, older form of difficilis (“hard to do, difficult”), from dis- + facilis (“easy”); see difficile and difficult. Equivalent to dis- + facile + -ty. Also analysable as difficult + -y, though the adjective is historically a backformation from the noun.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.