Difficult

//ˈdɪfɪkəlt//

Synonyms for "difficult" (206 found)

Ranked by relevance and common usage.

Closest matches (42)

arduous burdensome herculean problematical rugged thorny ticklish troublesome trying unmanageable abstruse adverse antagonistic awkward baffling beyond one bloody-minded brutal cantankerous catchy

Show 17 more words

challenging choosy complex complicated conflicting contrary counter counteractive crabbed cramp cranky critical cross grained cross-grained dark deep delicate

Adjective(4 words)

arduous burdensome challenging cumbersome

Verb(1 words)

behedge

Strong matches (61)

demanding deplorable detrimental dicey difficile effortful embarrassing enigmatical evil exacting exhausting fastidious finical finicking finicky finikin formidable fractious froward fuss-budgety

Show 29 more words

Adjective(4 words)

dense effortful hard kittle

Verb(7 words)

forset frustrate hinder hurt incommode inhibit limit

Adjective(1 words)

hard

Related words (103)

mean miserable murderous nasty naughty nervous nit-picking no picnic not easy obfuscated obscure obscured obstinate obstructive onerous operose opposed opposing opposite ornery

Show 71 more words

Adjective(10 words)

murderous nasty rantipole rocky struggleful thistly tough uneath unsimple wanton

Verb(1 words)

thwart

Adjective(1 words)

unmanageable

How these synonyms differ

arduous - 'Arduous' emphasizes exhausting effort over a long haul. It's not just hard, it's draining.
challenging - 'Challenging' puts a positive spin on difficulty, it implies growth and reward, not just struggle.
complex - 'Complex' shifts from difficulty to intricacy, something can be complex without being hard if you understand all its parts.
tough - 'Tough' is colloquial and resilient, a tough problem demands grit, and calling something tough acknowledges real resistance.

Related word relations

OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.

9 relation types

More specific

6 entries

burdensome complex incomprehensible killing murderous subtle

Antonyms

3 entries

easy simple

Synonyms

2 entries

burdensome unmanageable

Related terms

11 entries

awkward backbreaking cumbersome difficult situation get blood from a stone get blood out of a stone heavy nail Jell-O to a tree problematic pull teeth test

derived

8 entries

difficult nut to crack difficult pill to swallow difficultate difficultly difficultness superdifficult trifficult undifficult

distinct from

3 entries

easy hard simple

has context

1 entries

person

related to

45 entries

adjective challenge challenging complicated demanding easy effort effortful game game level hard hard challenging hard complicated hard task impede intellectually

Showing 16 of 45 words.

similar

64 entries

ambitious arduous awkward baffling catchy challenging complex defiant delicate demanding disobedient effortful elusive

Showing 16 of 64 words.

Translations

240 translations across 131 languages.

Afrikaans

1 entries

moeilik adj (hard, not easy)

Albanian

1 entries

i vështirë adj (hard, not easy)

Amharic

1 entries

አስቸጋሪ adj (hard, not easy)

Ancient Greek

3 entries

δυσχερής adj (hard, not easy)
χαλεπός adj (hard, not easy)
χαλεπός adj (hard to manage (said of a person, horse, etc.))

Arabic

2 entries

صَعْب adj (hard, not easy)
واعر adj (hard, not easy)

Armenian

3 entries

բարդ adj (hard, not easy)
դժվար adj (hard, not easy)
ծանր adj (hard, not easy)

Assamese

1 entries

টান adj (hard, not easy)

Asturian

1 entries

difícil adj (hard, not easy)

Azerbaijani

2 entries

düşvar adj (hard, not easy)
çətin adj (hard, not easy)

Bashkir

2 entries

ауыр adj (hard, not easy)
ҡыйын adj (hard, not easy)

Basque

2 entries

nekez adj (hard, not easy)
zail adj (hard, not easy)

Belarusian

2 entries

тру́дны adj (hard, not easy)
ця́жкі adj (hard, not easy)

Bengali

1 entries

কঠিন adj (hard, not easy)

Bikol Central

2 entries

dipisil adj (hard, not easy)
masakit adj (hard, not easy)

Breton

1 entries

diaes adj (hard, not easy)

Brunei Malay

1 entries

payah adj (hard, not easy)

Bulgarian

3 entries

мъ́чен adj (hard, not easy)
те́жък adj (hard, not easy)
тру́ден adj (hard, not easy)

Burmese

2 entries

ခက် adj (hard, not easy)
ခဲယဉ်း adj (hard, not easy)

Catalan

2 entries

difícil adj (hard, not easy)
dificultar verb (make difficult; impede)

Cebuano

1 entries

lisud adj (hard, not easy)

Central Kurdish

3 entries

زەحمەت adj (hard, not easy)
سەخت adj (hard, not easy)
گران adj (hard, not easy)

Chamicuro

1 entries

yeewa adj (hard, not easy)

Chechen

1 entries

хала adj (hard, not easy)

Cherokee

2 entries

ᎤᏦᏍᏗ adj (hard, not easy)
ᏍᏓᏯ adj (hard, not easy)

Chinese Cantonese

2 entries

困難 /困难 adj (hard, not easy)
難 /难 adj (hard, not easy)

Chinese Mandarin

3 entries

困難 /困难 adj (hard, not easy)
艱難 /艰难 adj (hard, not easy)
難 /难 adj (hard, not easy)

Chukchi

1 entries

аӈъачеты adj (hard, not easy)

Church Slavic

1 entries

тѩжькъ adj (hard, not easy)

Crimean Tatar

1 entries

qıyın adj (hard, not easy)

Czech

2 entries

obtížný adj (hard, not easy)
těžký adj (hard, not easy)

Danish

1 entries

vanskelig adj (hard, not easy)

Dutch

2 entries

moeilijk adj (hard, not easy)
moeilijk adj (hard to manage (said of a person, horse, etc.))

Egyptian

1 entries

q-qs-n:nDs adj (hard, not easy)

Esperanto

1 entries

malfacila adj (hard, not easy)

Estonian

1 entries

keeruline adj (hard, not easy)

Ewe

1 entries

sẽ̌ adj (hard, not easy)

Faroese

1 entries

torførur adj (hard, not easy)

Finnish

2 entries

hankala adj (hard, not easy)
vaikea adj (hard, not easy)

French

1 entries

difficile adj (hard, not easy)

Galician

2 entries

arrevesado adj (hard, not easy)
difícil adj (hard, not easy)

Georgian

3 entries

მძიმე adj (hard, not easy)
რთული adj (hard, not easy)
ძნელი adj (hard, not easy)

German

3 entries

schwer adj (hard, not easy)
schwierig adj (hard, not easy)
schwierig adj (hard to manage (said of a person, horse, etc.))

Gothic

1 entries

𐌰𐌲𐌻𐌿𐍃 adj (hard, not easy)

Greek

1 entries

δύσκολος adj (hard, not easy)

Greenlandic

1 entries

sapernarpoq adj (hard, not easy)

Gujarati

1 entries

કઠિન adj (hard, not easy)

Haitian Creole

1 entries

difisil adj (hard, not easy)

Hebrew

2 entries

מסובך adj (hard, not easy)
קָשֶׁה adj (hard, not easy)

Hindi

4 entries

कठिन adj (hard, not easy)
दुश्वार adj (hard, not easy)
दूभर adj (hard, not easy)
मुश्किल adj (hard, not easy)

Hungarian

1 entries

nehéz adj (hard, not easy)

Icelandic

1 entries

erfiður adj (hard, not easy)

Ido

1 entries

desfacila adj (hard, not easy)

Ilocano

1 entries

narigat adj (hard, not easy)

Indonesian

3 entries

sukar adj (hard, not easy)
sulit adj (hard, not easy)
susah adj (hard, not easy)

Ingush

1 entries

хала adj (hard, not easy)

Interlingua

1 entries

difficile adj (hard, not easy)

Irish

2 entries

ciotach adj (hard to manage (said of a person, horse, etc.))
deacair adj (hard, not easy)

Italian

1 entries

difficile adj (hard, not easy)

Japanese

2 entries

困難な adj (hard, not easy)
難しい adj (hard, not easy)

Jeju

2 entries

심들다 adj (hard, not easy)
어렵다 adj (hard, not easy)

Kabuverdianu

4 entries

pexóde adj (hard, not easy)
puxadu adj (hard, not easy)
rabés adj (hard, not easy)
rabés adj (hard to manage (said of a person, horse, etc.))

Kannada

1 entries

ಕಟ್ adj (hard, not easy)

Kazakh

2 entries

ауыр adj (hard, not easy)
қиын adj (hard, not easy)

Khiamniungan Naga

1 entries

tshīk adj (hard, not easy)

Khmer

2 entries

ពិបាក adj (hard, not easy)
យ៉ាប់ adj (hard, not easy)

Korean

2 entries

어렵다 adj (hard, not easy)
힘들다 adj (hard, not easy)

Kyrgyz

2 entries

кыйын adj (hard, not easy)
оор adj (hard, not easy)

Ladino

2 entries

difísil adj (hard, not easy)
zor adj (hard, not easy)

Lao

1 entries

ຍາກ adj (hard, not easy)

Latin

2 entries

difficilis adj (hard, not easy)
difficilis adj (hard to manage (said of a person, horse, etc.))

Latvian

2 entries

grūts adj (hard, not easy)
sarežģīts adj (hard, not easy)

Lithuanian

1 entries

sunkus adj (hard, not easy)

Macedonian

2 entries

мачен adj (hard, not easy)
тежок adj (hard, not easy)

Malay

2 entries

sukar adj (hard, not easy)
susah adj (hard, not easy)

Maltese

1 entries

diffiċli adj (hard, not easy)

Manx

4 entries

creoi adj (hard, not easy)
doillee adj (hard, not easy)
mooar adj (hard, not easy)
neuaashagh adj (hard, not easy)

Marathi

2 entries

अवघड adj (hard, not easy)
कठीण adj (hard, not easy)

Mirandese

1 entries

defícel adj (hard, not easy)

Mon

1 entries

ဝါတ် adj (hard, not easy)

Mongolian

4 entries

бэрх adj (hard, not easy)
хэцүү adj (hard, not easy)
хүнд adj (hard, not easy)
хүчир adj (hard, not easy)

Māori

3 entries

taumaha hārukiruki adj (hard, not easy)
uaua adj (hard, not easy)
whēuaua adj (hard, not easy)

Navajo

1 entries

nantłʼah adj (hard, not easy)

Northern Sami

1 entries

váttis adj (hard, not easy)

Norwegian

1 entries

vanskelig adj (hard, not easy)

Occitan

2 entries

dificil adj (hard, not easy)
malaisit adj (hard, not easy)

Old English

1 entries

earfoþe adj (hard, not easy)

Old Irish

1 entries

ansae adj (hard, not easy)

Ottoman Turkish

1 entries

دشوار adj (hard, not easy)

Pashto

2 entries

مشکل adj (hard, not easy)
ګران adj (hard, not easy)

Persian

4 entries

دشوار adj (hard, not easy)
سخت adj (hard, not easy)
صعب adj (hard, not easy)
مشکل adj (hard, not easy)

Polish

2 entries

ciężki adj (hard, not easy)
trudny adj (hard, not easy)

Portuguese

2 entries

difícil adj (hard, not easy)
dificultar verb (make difficult; impede)

Punjabi

1 entries

ਕਠਿਨ adj (hard, not easy)

Quechua

1 entries

sasa adj (hard, not easy)

Romanian

4 entries

anevoios adj (hard, not easy)
complicat adj (hard, not easy)
dificil adj (hard, not easy)
greu adj (hard, not easy)

Russian

4 entries

сло́жный adj (hard, not easy)
тру́дный adj (hard, not easy)
тя́жкий adj (hard, not easy)
тяжёлый adj (hard, not easy)

Samoan

1 entries

faigatā adj (hard, not easy)

Sanskrit

1 entries

कठिन adj (hard, not easy)

Scottish Gaelic

4 entries

cruaidh adj (hard, not easy)
doirbh adj (hard, not easy)
duilich adj (hard, not easy)
mì-fhurasda adj (hard, not easy)

Serbo-Croatian

2 entries

težak adj (hard, not easy)
тежак adj (hard, not easy)

Sinhalese

1 entries

අමාරු adj (hard, not easy)

Slovak

2 entries

obtiažny adj (hard, not easy)
ťažký adj (hard, not easy)

Slovene

1 entries

težek adj (hard, not easy)

Spanish

4 entries

chungo adj (hard, not easy)
difícil adj (hard, not easy)
tranca adj (hard, not easy)
dificultar verb (make difficult; impede)

Swedish

1 entries

svår adj (hard, not easy)

Tagalog

1 entries

mahirap adj (hard, not easy)

Tahitian

1 entries

fifi adj (hard, not easy)

Tajik

3 entries

душвор adj (hard, not easy)
мушкил adj (hard, not easy)
сахт adj (hard, not easy)

Tamil

1 entries

கடினமான adj (hard, not easy)

Tatar

2 entries

авыр adj (hard, not easy)
кыен adj (hard, not easy)

Telugu

2 entries

కఠినమైన adj (hard, not easy)
కష్టమైన adj (hard, not easy)

Tetum

1 entries

susar adj (hard, not easy)

Thai

2 entries

ยาก adj (hard, not easy)
ลำบาก adj (hard, not easy)

Tibetan

4 entries

ཁག་པོ adj (hard, not easy)
དཀའ་ངལ་ཅན adj (hard, not easy)
དཀའ་མོ adj (hard, not easy)
དཀའ་ལས་ཁག་པོ adj (hard, not easy)

Tocharian B

2 entries

waimene adj (hard, not easy)
āmāskai adj (hard, not easy)

Tongan

1 entries

faingataʻa adj (hard, not easy)

Turkish

4 entries

ağır adj (hard, not easy)
düşvar adj (hard, not easy)
güç adj (hard, not easy)
kıyın adj (hard, not easy)

Turkmen

4 entries

kyn adj (hard, not easy)
müçgil adj (hard, not easy)
çatak adj (hard, not easy)
çetin adj (hard, not easy)

Tày

1 entries

cáo quán adj (hard, not easy)

Ukrainian

2 entries

важки́й adj (hard, not easy)
трудни́й adj (hard, not easy)

Upper Sorbian

1 entries

ćežki adj (hard, not easy)

Urdu

3 entries

دشوار adj (hard, not easy)
مشکل adj (hard, not easy)
کٹھن adj (hard, not easy)

Uyghur

2 entries

قىيىن adj (hard, not easy)
مۈشكۈل adj (hard, not easy)

Uzbek

3 entries

murakkab adj (hard, not easy)
mushkul adj (hard, not easy)
qiyin adj (hard, not easy)

Vietnamese

2 entries

khó adj (hard, not easy)
khó khăn adj (hard, not easy)

Volapük

1 entries

fikulik adj (hard, not easy)

Welsh

2 entries

anodd adj (hard, not easy)
caled adj (hard, not easy)

West-Frisian

1 entries

swier adj (hard, not easy)

Wu Chinese

1 entries

難 /难 adj (hard, not easy)

Yiddish

2 entries

האַרב adj (hard, not easy)
שווער adj (hard, not easy)

Yoruba

1 entries

le adj (hard, not easy)

Sample sentences

18 total sentences available.

Tatoeba + Wiktionary

It is difficult to keep up a conversation with someone who only says "yes" and "no".

Source: tatoeba (1589)

It's quite difficult to master French in 2 or 3 years.

Source: tatoeba (1596)

It's difficult to have great ideas.

Source: tatoeba (2080)

It's more difficult than you think.

Source: tatoeba (2449)

Showing 4 of 18 available sentences.

More for "difficult"

Meaning Antonyms Sentences Word Type

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.