Dif"fi*cult , v. t. To render difficult; to impede; to
perplex. [R.]
Sir W. Temple.
Dif"fi*cult (?), a. [From Difficulty.]
1. Hard to
do or to make; beset with difficulty; attended with labor, trouble, or pains; not easy; arduous.
&fist; 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.
There is not
the strength or courage left me to venture into the wide, strange, and difficult world, alone.
Hawthorne.
2. Hard to manage or
to please; not easily wrought upon; austere; stubborn; as, a difficult person.
Syn.
-- Arduous; painful; crabbed; perplexed; laborious; unaccommodating; troublesome. See Arduous.
Hear it pronounced