a. [ From Difficulty. ]
☞ Difficult implies the notion that considerable mental effort or skill is required, or that obstacles are to be overcome which call for sagacity and skill in the agent; as, a difficult task; hard work is not always difficult work; a difficult operation in surgery; a difficult passage in an author. [ 1913 Webster ]
There is not the strength or courage left me to venture into the wide, strange, and difficult world, alone. Hawthorne. [ 1913 Webster ]
v. t. To render difficult; to impede; to perplex. [ R. ] Sir W. Temple. [ 1913 Webster ]
v. t. To render difficult; to difficilitate. [ Obs. ] Cotgrave. [ 1913 Webster ]
adv. With difficulty. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]
n. Difficulty. [ R. ] Golding. [ 1913 Webster ]
n.;
Not being able to promote them [ the interests of life ] on account of the difficulty of the region. James Byrne. [ 1913 Webster ]
They lie under some difficulties by reason of the emperor's displeasure. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]
Measures for terminating all local difficulties. Bancroft. [ 1913 Webster ]
In days of difficulty and pressure. Tennyson.