| adversity | | |
| n. (state) | 1. adversity, hard knocks, hardship | a state of misfortune or affliction.; "debt-ridden farmers struggling with adversity"; "a life of hardship" |
| ~ ill-being | lack of prosperity or happiness or health. |
| ~ bad luck, ill luck, tough luck, misfortune | an unfortunate state resulting from unfavorable outcomes. |
| ~ disaster, catastrophe | a state of extreme (usually irremediable) ruin and misfortune.; "lack of funds has resulted in a catastrophe for our school system"; "his policies were a disaster" |
| ~ extremity | an extreme condition or state (especially of adversity or disease). |
| ~ distress | a state of adversity (danger or affliction or need).; "a ship in distress"; "she was the classic maiden in distress" |
| ~ affliction | a state of great suffering and distress due to adversity. |
| ~ victimization | adversity resulting from being made a victim.; "his victimization infuriated him" |
| ~ low-water mark, nadir | an extreme state of adversity; the lowest point of anything. |
| n. (event) | 2. adversity | a stroke of ill fortune; a calamitous event.; "a period marked by adversities" |
| ~ misfortune, bad luck | unnecessary and unforeseen trouble resulting from an unfortunate event. |
| difficulty | | |
| n. (act) | 1. difficulty, trouble | an effort that is inconvenient.; "I went to a lot of trouble"; "he won without any trouble"; "had difficulty walking"; "finished the test only with great difficulty" |
| ~ elbow grease, exertion, effort, travail, sweat | use of physical or mental energy; hard work.; "he got an A for effort"; "they managed only with great exertion" |
| ~ the devil | something difficult or awkward to do or deal with.; "it will be the devil to solve" |
| ~ tsuris | (Yiddish) aggravating trouble.; "the frustrating tsuris he subjected himself to" |
| n. (cognition) | 2. difficulty | a factor causing trouble in achieving a positive result or tending to produce a negative result.; "serious difficulties were encountered in obtaining a pure reagent" |
| ~ cognitive factor | something immaterial (as a circumstance or influence) that contributes to producing a result. |
| ~ trouble, problem | a source of difficulty.; "one trouble after another delayed the job"; "what's the problem?" |
| ~ facer | (a dated Briticism) a serious difficulty with which one is suddenly faced. |
| ~ killer | a difficulty that is hard to deal with.; "that exam was a real killer" |
| ~ kink | a difficulty or flaw in a plan or operation.; "there are still a few kinks to iron out" |
| ~ pisser | a very disagreeable difficulty. |
| ~ pitfall, booby trap | an unforeseen or unexpected or surprising difficulty. |
| ~ snorter | something outstandingly difficult.; "the problem was a real snorter" |
| ~ deterrent, hinderance, hindrance, impediment, balk, baulk, handicap, check | something immaterial that interferes with or delays action or progress. |
| ~ wrinkle | a minor difficulty.; "they finally have the wrinkles pretty well ironed out" |
| n. (state) | 3. difficulty | a condition or state of affairs almost beyond one's ability to deal with and requiring great effort to bear or overcome.; "grappling with financial difficulties" |
| ~ condition, status | a state at a particular time.; "a condition (or state) of disrepair"; "the current status of the arms negotiations" |
| ~ bitch | an unpleasant difficulty.; "this problem is a real bitch" |
| ~ plight, predicament, quandary | a situation from which extrication is difficult especially an unpleasant or trying one.; "finds himself in a most awkward predicament"; "the woeful plight of homeless people" |
| ~ rattrap | a difficult entangling situation. |
| ~ pinch | a painful or straitened circumstance.; "the pinch of the recession" |
| ~ fix, kettle of fish, jam, mess, muddle, pickle, hole | informal terms for a difficult situation.; "he got into a terrible fix"; "he made a muddle of his marriage" |
| ~ hard time, rough sledding | a difficulty that can be overcome with effort.; "we had a hard time getting here"; "analysts predicted rough sledding for handset makers" |
| ~ strain, stress | difficulty that causes worry or emotional tension.; "she endured the stresses and strains of life"; "he presided over the economy during the period of the greatest stress and danger" |
| ~ mire | a difficulty or embarrassment that is hard to extricate yourself from.; "the country is still trying to climb out of the mire left by its previous president"; "caught in the mire of poverty" |
| ~ problem, job | a state of difficulty that needs to be resolved.; "she and her husband are having problems"; "it is always a job to contact him"; "urban problems such as traffic congestion and smog" |
| ~ situation | a complex or critical or unusual difficulty.; "the dangerous situation developed suddenly"; "that's quite a situation"; "no human situation is simple" |
| ~ urinary hesitancy | difficulty in beginning the flow of urine; associated with prostate enlargement in men and with narrowing of the urethral opening in women; may be caused by emotional stress in either men or women. |
| ~ wall | a difficult or awkward situation.; "his back was to the wall"; "competition was pushing them to the wall" |
| n. (attribute) | 4. difficultness, difficulty | the quality of being difficult.; "they agreed about the difficulty of the climb" |
| ~ effortfulness | the quality of requiring deliberate effort. |
| ~ asperity, rigor, rigorousness, rigourousness, grimness, hardship, rigour, severeness, severity | something hard to endure.; "the asperity of northern winters" |
| ~ ruggedness, hardness | the quality of being difficult to do.; "he assigned a series of problems of increasing hardness"; "the ruggedness of his exams caused half the class to fail" |
| ~ formidability, toughness | impressive difficulty. |
| ~ burdensomeness, onerousness, oppressiveness, heaviness | unwelcome burdensome difficulty. |
| ~ subtlety, niceness | the quality of being difficult to detect or analyze.; "you had to admire the subtlety of the distinctions he drew" |
| ~ troublesomeness, worriment, inconvenience | a difficulty that causes anxiety. |
| ~ quality | an essential and distinguishing attribute of something or someone.; "the quality of mercy is not strained" |
| distress | | |
| n. (feeling) | 1. distress, hurt, suffering | psychological suffering.; "the death of his wife caused him great distress" |
| ~ painfulness, pain | emotional distress; a fundamental feeling that people try to avoid.; "the pain of loneliness" |
| ~ anguish, torture, torment | extreme mental distress. |
| ~ self-torment, self-torture | self-imposed distress. |
| ~ tsoris | (Yiddish) trouble and suffering. |
| ~ wound | a figurative injury (to your feelings or pride).; "he feared that mentioning it might reopen the wound"; "deep in her breast lives the silent wound"; "The right reader of a good poem can tell the moment it strikes him that he has taken an immortal wound--that he will never get over it" |
| n. (state) | 2. distress | a state of adversity (danger or affliction or need).; "a ship in distress"; "she was the classic maiden in distress" |
| ~ anguish | extreme distress of body or mind. |
| ~ adversity, hard knocks, hardship | a state of misfortune or affliction.; "debt-ridden farmers struggling with adversity"; "a life of hardship" |
| ~ pressure | an oppressive condition of physical or mental or social or economic distress. |
| ~ throe | hard or painful trouble or struggle.; "a country in the throes of economic collapse" |
| n. (state) | 3. distress | extreme physical pain.; "the patient appeared to be in distress" |
| ~ hurting, pain | a symptom of some physical hurt or disorder.; "the patient developed severe pain and distension" |
| n. (act) | 4. distraint, distress | the seizure and holding of property as security for payment of a debt or satisfaction of a claim.; "Originally distress was a landlord's remedy against a tenant for unpaid rents or property damage but now the landlord is given a landlord's lien" |
| ~ seizure | the taking possession of something by legal process. |
| v. (social) | 5. distress, straiten | bring into difficulties or distress, especially financial hardship. |
| ~ discommode, disoblige, incommode, inconvenience, put out, trouble, bother | to cause inconvenience or discomfort to.; "Sorry to trouble you, but..." |
| v. (emotion) | 6. distress | cause mental pain to.; "The news of her child's illness distressed the mother" |
| ~ disturb, trouble, upset | move deeply.; "This book upset me"; "A troubling thought" |
| ~ besiege | cause to feel distressed or worried.; "She was besieged by so many problems that she got discouraged" |
| predicament | | |
| n. (state) | 1. plight, predicament, quandary | a situation from which extrication is difficult especially an unpleasant or trying one.; "finds himself in a most awkward predicament"; "the woeful plight of homeless people" |
| ~ care | a cause for feeling concern.; "his major care was the illness of his wife" |
| ~ difficulty | a condition or state of affairs almost beyond one's ability to deal with and requiring great effort to bear or overcome.; "grappling with financial difficulties" |
| ~ box, corner | a predicament from which a skillful or graceful escape is impossible.; "his lying got him into a tight corner" |
| ~ hot water | a dangerous or distressing predicament.; "his views on race got him into political hot water" |
| hard | | |
| adj. | 1. difficult, hard | not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure.; "a difficult task"; "nesting places on the cliffs are difficult of access"; "difficult times"; "why is it so hard for you to keep a secret?" |
| ~ demanding | requiring more than usually expected or thought due; especially great patience and effort and skill.; "found the job very demanding"; "a baby can be so demanding" |
| ~ challenging, ambitious | requiring full use of your abilities or resources.; "ambitious schedule"; "performed the most challenging task without a mistake" |
| ~ arduous | difficult to accomplish; demanding considerable mental effort and skill.; "the arduous work of preparing a dictionary" |
| ~ embarrassing, unenviable, sticky, awkward | hard to deal with; especially causing pain or embarrassment.; "awkward (or embarrassing or difficult) moments in the discussion"; "an awkward pause followed his remark"; "a sticky question"; "in the unenviable position of resorting to an act he had planned to save for the climax of the campaign" |
| ~ baffling, knotty, problematic, problematical, elusive, tough | making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe.; "a baffling problem"; "I faced the knotty problem of what to have for breakfast"; "a problematic situation at home" |
| ~ catchy, tricky | having concealed difficulty.; "a catchy question"; "a tricky recipe to follow" |
| ~ ticklish, touchy, delicate | difficult to handle; requiring great tact.; "delicate negotiations with the big powers"; "hesitates to be explicit on so ticklish a matter"; "a touchy subject" |
| ~ fractious | unpredictably difficult in operation; likely to be troublesome.; "rockets were much too fractious to be tested near thickly populated areas"; "fractious components of a communication system" |
| ~ hard-fought | requiring great effort.; "a hard-fought primary" |
| ~ herculean | extremely difficult; requiring the strength of a Hercules.; "a herculean task" |
| ~ nasty, tight | exasperatingly difficult to handle or circumvent.; "a nasty problem"; "a good man to have on your side in a tight situation" |
| ~ rocky, rough | full of hardship or trials.; "the rocky road to success"; "they were having a rough time" |
| ~ tough, rugged | very difficult; severely testing stamina or resolution.; "a rugged competitive examination"; "the rugged conditions of frontier life"; "the competition was tough"; "it's a tough life"; "it was a tough job" |
| ~ serious | requiring effort or concentration; complex and not easy to answer or solve.; "raised serious objections to the proposal"; "the plan has a serious flaw" |
| ~ tall | impressively difficult.; "a tall order" |
| ~ thorny | bristling with perplexities.; "the thorny question of states' rights" |
| ~ troublesome | difficult to deal with.; "a troublesome infection"; "a troublesome situation" |
| ~ trying | hard to endure.; "fell upon trying times" |
| ~ vexed | causing difficulty in finding an answer or solution; much disputed.; "the vexed issue of priorities"; "we live in vexed and troubled times" |
| ~ effortful | requiring great physical effort. |
| ~ hard | dispassionate.; "took a hard look"; "a hard bargainer" |
| adj. | 2. hard | dispassionate.; "took a hard look"; "a hard bargainer" |
| ~ difficult, hard | not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure.; "a difficult task"; "nesting places on the cliffs are difficult of access"; "difficult times"; "why is it so hard for you to keep a secret?" |
| ~ calculating, calculative, scheming, conniving, shrewd | used of persons.; "the most calculating and selfish men in the community" |
| ~ case-hardened, hardened, hard-boiled | used of persons; emotionally hardened.; "faced a case-hardened judge" |
| ~ steely | resembling steel as in hardness.; "steely eyes"; "steely nerves like those of a steeplejack" |
| ~ merciless, unmerciful | having or showing no mercy.; "the merciless enemy"; "a merciless critic"; "gave him a merciless beating" |
| ~ insensitive | deficient in human sensibility; not mentally or morally sensitive.; "insensitive to the needs of the patients" |
| ~ tough | not given to gentleness or sentimentality.; "a tough character" |
| adj. | 3. hard | resisting weight or pressure. |
| ~ adamantine | having the hardness of a diamond. |
| ~ al dente | of pasta cooked so as to be firm when eaten. |
| ~ corneous, hornlike, horny | made of horn (or of a substance resembling horn). |
| ~ erect, tumid | of sexual organs; stiff and rigid. |
| ~ firm, solid | not soft or yielding to pressure.; "a firm mattress"; "the snow was firm underfoot"; "solid ground" |
| ~ granitelike, rocklike, granitic, stony | hard as granite.; "a granitic fist" |
| ~ hardened, set | converted to solid form (as concrete). |
| ~ woody | made hard like wood as the result of the deposition of lignin in the cell walls. |
| ~ petrous, stonelike | (of bone especially the temporal bone) resembling stone in hardness. |
| ~ semihard | somewhat hard. |
| ~ steely | resembling steel in hardness. |
| ~ unyielding | resistant to physical force or pressure.; "an unyielding head support" |
| adj. | 4. hard, knockout, severe | very strong or vigorous.; "strong winds"; "a hard left to the chin"; "a knockout punch"; "a severe blow" |
| ~ strong | having strength or power greater than average or expected.; "a strong radio signal"; "strong medicine"; "a strong man" |
| adj. | 5. arduous, backbreaking, grueling, gruelling, hard, heavy, laborious, operose, punishing, toilsome | characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion; especially physical effort.; "worked their arduous way up the mining valley"; "a grueling campaign"; "hard labor"; "heavy work"; "heavy going"; "spent many laborious hours on the project"; "set a punishing pace" |
| ~ effortful | requiring great physical effort. |
| adj. | 6. hard, surd, unvoiced, voiceless | produced without vibration of the vocal cords.; "unvoiced consonants such as `p' and `k' and `s'" |
| ~ whispered | spoken in soft hushed tones without vibrations of the vocal cords.; "a long whispered conversation" |
| adj. | 7. concentrated, hard | (of light) transmitted directly from a pointed light source. |
| adj. | 8. hard | (of speech sounds); produced with the back of the tongue raised toward or touching the velum.; "Russian distinguished between hard consonants and palatalized or soft consonants" |
| ~ velar | produced with the back of the tongue touching or near the soft palate (as `k' in `cat' and `g' in `gun' and `ng' in `sing'). |
| adj. | 9. hard, heavy, intemperate | given to excessive indulgence of bodily appetites especially for intoxicating liquors.; "a hard drinker" |
| ~ indulgent | characterized by or given to yielding to the wishes of someone.; "indulgent grandparents" |
| adj. | 10. hard, strong | being distilled rather than fermented; having a high alcoholic content.; "hard liquor" |
| ~ alcoholic | characteristic of or containing alcohol.; "alcoholic drinks" |
| adj. | 11. hard, tough | unfortunate or hard to bear.; "had hard luck"; "a tough break" |
| ~ bad | having undesirable or negative qualities.; "a bad report card"; "his sloppy appearance made a bad impression"; "a bad little boy"; "clothes in bad shape"; "a bad cut"; "bad luck"; "the news was very bad"; "the reviews were bad"; "the pay is bad"; "it was a bad light for reading"; "the movie was a bad choice" |
| adj. | 12. hard | dried out.; "hard dry rolls left over from the day before" |
| ~ stale | lacking freshness, palatability, or showing deterioration from age.; "stale bread"; "the beer was stale" |
| adv. | 13. hard | with effort or force or vigor.; "the team played hard"; "worked hard all day"; "pressed hard on the lever"; "hit the ball hard"; "slammed the door hard" |
| adv. | 14. firmly, hard | with firmness.; "held hard to the railing" |
| adv. | 15. hard | earnestly or intently.; "thought hard about it"; "stared hard at the accused" |
| adv. | 16. hard, severely | causing great damage or hardship.; "industries hit hard by the depression"; "she was severely affected by the bank's failure" |
| adv. | 17. hard | slowly and with difficulty.; "prejudices die hard" |
| adv. | 18. hard, heavily, intemperately | indulging excessively.; "he drank heavily" |
| adv. | 19. hard | into a solid condition.; "concrete that sets hard within a few hours" |
| adv. | 20. hard | very near or close in space or time.; "it stands hard by the railroad tracks"; "they were hard on his heels"; "a strike followed hard upon the plant's opening" |
| adv. | 21. hard | with pain or distress or bitterness.; "he took the rejection very hard" |
| adv. | 22. hard | to the full extent possible; all the way.; "hard alee"; "the ship went hard astern"; "swung the wheel hard left" |
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