What does “difficult” mean?
- 1
adjectivenot easy; needing a lot of effort or skill
The math test was really difficult.
- 2
adjectivenot friendly or easy to deal with
He can be difficult in the mornings.
Difficult at a glance
- Part of speech
- adjective
- CEFR level
- A1 (beginner)
- Pronunciation
- /ˈdɪfɪkəlt/ · DIF-ih-kult
How to use “difficult” correctly
Say “It’s difficult for me to…”, not “I am difficult to…” (which means you are hard to deal with).
Common phrases with “difficult”
- find it difficult to
- difficult to understand
- a difficult time
Synonyms, opposites and related words
Word family
- difficulty
- difficulties
“difficult” is on these word lists
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