difficult

== English == === Etymology === From Middle English difficult (ca. 1400), a back-formation from difficulte (whence modern difficulty), from Old French difficulté, from Latin difficultas, from difficul, older form of difficilis (“hard to do, difficult”), from dis- + facilis (“easy”); see difficile. Replaced native Middle English earveþ (“difficult, hard”), from Old English earfoþe (“difficult, laborious, full of hardship”), cognate to German Arbeit (“work”). The verb is from the adjective, partly after Middle French difficulter and its etymon Latin difficultō. Compare difficilitate, difficultate, and Italian difficoltare. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈdɪfɪkəlt/ === Adjective === difficult (comparative more difficult, superlative most difficult) Hard, not easy, requiring much effort. difficult of accomplishment (a somewhat dated way of saying "difficult to accomplish") (often of a person, or a horse, etc) Hard to manage, uncooperative, troublesome. (obsolete) Unable or unwilling. ==== Usage notes ==== Difficult implies that considerable mental effort or physical skill is required, or that obstacles are to be overcome which call for sagacity and skill in the doer; as, a difficult task. Thus, “hard” is not always synonymous with difficult. Examples include a difficult operation in surgery and a difficult passage by an author (that is, a passage which is hard to understand). ==== Synonyms ==== burdensome, cumbersome, hard see also Thesaurus:difficult ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === Verb === difficult (third-person singular simple present difficults, present participle difficulting, simple past and past participle difficulted) (obsolete, transitive) To make difficult, hinder; to impede; to perplex. August 9 1678, William Temple, letter to Joseph Williamson their Excellencies having desisted from their pretensions , which had difficulted the peace ==== Translations ==== === References === === Further reading === “difficult”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC. William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “difficult”, in The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC. == Middle English == === Alternative forms === deffykel, dyficulte === Etymology === Back-formation from difficulte (“difficulty”). === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /diˈfikult/, /diˈfikəl(t)/ === Adjective === difficult (rare, Late Middle English) difficult, challenging ==== Descendants ==== English: difficult → Scots: diffiquilt, defeeckwalt, deffeckwalt ==== References ==== “difficult, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.