Definition: not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure
Usage: a difficult task; nesting places on the cliffs are difficult of access; difficult times; why is it so hard for you to keep a secret?
Similar words: challenging, ambitious
Definition: requiring full use of your abilities or resources
Usage: ambitious schedule; performed the most challenging task without a mistake
Similar words: arduous
Definition: difficult to accomplish; demanding considerable mental effort and skill
Usage: the arduous work of preparing a dictionary
Similar words: awkward, unenviable, sticky, embarrassing
Definition: hard to deal with; especially causing pain or embarrassment
Usage: awkward (or embarrassing or difficult) moments in the discussion; an awkward pause followed his remark; a sticky question; in the unenviable position of resorting to an act he had planned to save for the climax of the campaign
Similar words: elusive, tough, baffling, problematic, problematical, knotty
Definition: making great mental demands; hard to comprehend or solve or believe
Usage: a baffling problem; I faced the knotty problem of what to have for breakfast; a problematic situation at home
Definition: having concealed difficulty
Usage: a catchy question; a tricky recipe to follow
Similar words: delicate, touchy, ticklish
Definition: difficult to handle; requiring great tact
Usage: delicate negotiations with the big powers; hesitates to be explicit on so ticklish a matter; a touchy subject
Similar words: fractious
Definition: unpredictably difficult in operation; likely to be troublesome
Usage: rockets were much too fractious to be tested near thickly populated areas; fractious components of a communication system
Similar words: hard-fought
Definition: requiring great effort
Usage: a hard-fought primary
Similar words: herculean
Definition: extremely difficult; requiring the strength of a Hercules
Usage: a herculean task
Definition: exasperatingly difficult to handle or circumvent
Usage: a nasty problem; a good man to have on your side in a tight situation
Definition: full of hardship or trials
Usage: the rocky road to success; they were having a rough time
Definition: very difficult; severely testing stamina or resolution
Usage: a rugged competitive examination; the rugged conditions of frontier life; the competition was tough; it's a tough life; it was a tough job
Similar words: serious
Definition: requiring effort or concentration; complex and not easy to answer or solve
Usage: raised serious objections to the proposal; the plan has a serious flaw
Similar words: tall
Definition: impressively difficult
Usage: a tall order
Similar words: thorny
Definition: bristling with perplexities
Usage: the thorny question of states' rights
Similar words: troublesome
Definition: difficult to deal with
Usage: a troublesome infection; a troublesome situation
Similar words: trying
Definition: hard to endure
Usage: fell upon trying times
Similar words: vexed
Definition: causing difficulty in finding an answer or solution; much disputed
Usage: the vexed issue of priorities; we live in vexed and troubled times
Synonyms: unmanageable, difficult
Definition: hard to control
Usage: a difficult child, an unmanageable situation
Similar words: uncontrollable, ungovernable, unruly, indocile
Definition: of persons
Usage: the little boy's parents think he is spirited, but his teacher finds him unruly
Similar words: uncheckable
Definition: incapable of being checked or restrained