Related Searches
on Ask.com
difficult - 20 thesaurus results
| Main Entry: | difficult |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | hard on someone; hard to do |
| Synonyms: | Gargantuan*, Herculean*, ambitious, arduous, bothersome, burdensome, crucial, demanding, exacting, formidable, galling, heavy, immense, intricate, irritating, labored, laborious, onerous, operose, painful, problem, problematic, prohibitive, rigid, severe, stiff, strenuous, titanic, toilsome, tough, troublesome, trying, unyielding, uphill, wearisome, backbreaker, challenging, difficile, easier said than done, effortful, hard-won, no picnic, not easy, upstream |
| Antonyms: | calm, easy, free, manageable, plain, simple, uncomplicated |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | difficult |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | complicated; hard to comprehend |
| Synonyms: | abstract, abstruse, baffling, complex, confusing, dark, deep, delicate, enigmatic, esoteric, formidable, hidden, inexplicable, intricate, involved, knotty, labyrinthine, loose, meandering, mysterious, mystical, nice, obscure, obstinate, perplexing, profound, puzzling, rambling, subtle, tangled, thorny, ticklish, troublesome, unclear, unfathomable, unintelligible, bewildering, confounding, enigmatical, entangled, hard to explain, hard to solve, mystifying, paradoxical, problematical, vexing |
| Antonyms: | easy, simple, straightforward, uncomplicated |
| Main Entry: | difficult |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | unmanageable socially |
| Synonyms: | argumentative, boorish, dark, demanding, fastidious, finicky, fractious, fussy, grim, impolite, intractable, irritable, oafish, obstreperous, perverse, picky, refractory, rigid, rude, tiresome, tough, troublesome, trying, bearish, hard to please, unaccommodating, unamenable |
| Antonyms: | calm, friendly, sociable |
| Main Entry: | burdensome |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | troublesome |
| Synonyms: | demanding, difficult, disturbing, exacting, exigent, heavy*, irksome, onerous, oppressive, taxing, tough, trying, wearing, weighty, carking, crushing, superincumbent, wearying |
| Antonyms: | helpful, helping, aiding, relieving, unburdensome |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | complicated |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | difficult, complex |
| Synonyms: | abstruse, arduous, can of worms*, convoluted, difficult, elaborate, fancy, hard, intricate, involved, knotty, labyrinthine, mixed, perplexing, problematic, puzzling, recondite, sophisticated, troublesome, various, Byzantine, Daedalean, Gordian, entangled, gasser, hi-tech, interlaced, mega factor, wheels within wheels |
| Notes: | something complex may be well-organized and logically constructed as well as subtle and intricate, while a thing that is complicated will have something irregular, perverse, asymmetrical in addition to fundamental intricacy; complex is more formal and technical (a problem in mathematics is complex) while something like personal life can be complicated |
| Antonyms: | easy, facile, simple |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | crabby/crabbed |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | in a bad mood |
| Synonyms: | acid, acrid, acrimonious, awkward, bad-tempered, blunt, brusque, captious, choleric, churlish, cranky*, cross, crotchety, crusty*, cynical, difficult, dour, fretful, gloomy, glum, grouchy*, harsh, huffy, ill-tempered, irascible, irritable, misanthropic, morose, peevish, perverse, petulant, prickly, saturnine, snappish, snappy, sour, sulky, sullen, surly, tart, testy, tough, trying, unsociable, ill-humored, nasty-tempered, splenetic |
| Antonyms: | happy |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | crotchety |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | irritable, often due to old age |
| Synonyms: | awkward, bad-tempered, cantankerous, contrary, crabby*, cranky, cross, crusty, difficult, disagreeable, eccentric, fractious, grouchy, grumpy, irritable, obstinate, obstreperous, odd, ornery*, peevish, queer, surly, testy, unusual, waspish, bearish, cross-grained, curmudgeonly, vinegary, waspy |
| Antonyms: | cheerful, happy, pleasant |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | demanding |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | challenging, urgent |
| Synonyms: | ambitious, bothersome, clamorous, critical, dictatorial, difficult, exacting, exigent, fussy, grievous, hard, imperious, importunate, insistent, onerous, oppressive, pressing, querulous, strict, stringent, taxing, tough, troublesome, trying, wearing, weighty, backbreaker, exhausting, nagging |
| Antonyms: | easy, facile, trivial, unchallenging, undemanding |
| Main Entry: | dicey |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | risky |
| Synonyms: | capricious, chancy, dangerous, difficult, erratic, iffy*, incalculable, ticklish, tricky, uncertain, unpredictable, whimsical, fluctuant |
| Antonyms: | certain, safe, sure |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | embarrassing |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | humiliating, shaming |
| Synonyms: | awkward, confusing, delicate, difficult, disagreeable, distressing, disturbing, equivocal, impossible, inconvenient, inopportune, perplexing, puzzling, sensitive, shameful, sticky, ticklish, touchy, tricky, troublesome, uncomfortable, uneasy, unpropitious, unseemly, worrisome, bewildering, compromising, discomfiting, discommoding, discommodious, disconcerting, distracting, exasperating, incommodious, mortifying, rattling, troubling, upsetting |
| Antonyms: | comfortable, unshameful |
| Main Entry: | exacting |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | demanding |
| Synonyms: | burdensome, careful, critical, difficult, exigent, finicky, fussy, grievous, hard, harsh, hypercritical, imperious, onerous, oppressive, painstaking, particular, persnickety, picky, precise, rigid, rigorous, severe, stern, strict, stringent, taxing, tough, trying, unsparing, weighty, by the book, nit-picking |
| Antonyms: | giving, lending |
| Main Entry: | fastidious |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | very careful, meticulous |
| Synonyms: | captious, choosy, critical, dainty, demanding, difficult, discriminating, exacting, finicky, fussy, hypercritical, nice, particular, persnickety*, picky, punctilious, queasy, squeamish, easily disgusted, finical, fussbudgety, hard to please, nit-picky, overdelicate, overnice, stickling |
| Antonyms: | indifferent, uncouth, uncritical, indiscriminating, uncareful, undemanding |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | feisty |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | spirited; touchy |
| Synonyms: | active, alive, bubbly, courageous, difficult, enthusiastic, excitable, fiery, frisky, game, gritty, gutsy, high-strung, lively, mettlesome, ornery, peppy, quarrelsome, sensitive, spunky, thin-skinned, tough, truculent, full of pep, gutty, hot-blooded, scrappy, zestful |
| Main Entry: | finicky |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | overparticular |
| Synonyms: | choosy, critical, dainty, difficult, fastidious, fussy, nice, persnickety*, picky, scrupulous, squeamish, finical, finicking, fussbudget, hard to please, nit-picking, overnice, stickling |
| Antonyms: | easy, open, uncritical |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | fussy |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | meticulous, particular |
| Synonyms: | careful, choosy, conscientious, dainty, difficult, discriminating, exact, exacting, fastidious, finicky, fretful, fuddy-duddy*, heedful, painstaking, persnickety, picky, punctilious, punctual, querulous, scrupulous, squeamish, conscionable, finical, hard to please, nit-picking, overfastidious, picky-picky, stickling |
| Antonyms: | uncritical, undemanding, unfussy |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | hazardous |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | dangerous, unpredictable |
| Synonyms: | chancy, dicey*, difficult, hairy*, haphazard, hot*, insecure, perilous, precarious, risky, touchy, uncertain, unhealthy, unsafe, unsound, venturesome, wicked, parlous |
| Antonyms: | certain, guarded, predictable, protected, safe, secure |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | inconvenient |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | bothersome, troublesome |
| Synonyms: | annoying, awkward, cumbersome, detrimental, difficult, disadvantageous, disturbing, embarrassing, inexpedient, inopportune, pestiferous, prejudicial, remote, tiresome, troublesome, unmanageable, unseasonable, unsuitable, untimely, unwieldy, vexatious, discommoding, discommodious, incommodious, unhandy |
| Antonyms: | beneficial, convenient, helpful, aiding |
| Main Entry: | inscrutable |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | hidden, mysterious; blank |
| Synonyms: | ambiguous, arcane, cabalistic, deadpan*, difficult, enigmatic, impenetrable, incomprehensible, inexplicable, mystic, secret, unaccountable, unfathomable, unintelligible, unreadable, mysterial, poker-faced*, sphinxlike, undiscoverable, unexplainable, unknowable |
| Antonyms: | clear, comprehensible, evident, intelligible, obvious, plain |
* = informal/non-formal usage
| Main Entry: | insoluble |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | mysterious, unable to be solved or answered |
| Synonyms: | baffling, difficult, impenetrable, indecipherable, inexplicable, inextricable, obscure, unaccountable, unfathomable, unresolved, unsolvable, irresolvable, mystifying, unconcluded, unsolved |
| Antonyms: | explainable, explicable, obvious, open, solvable |
| Main Entry: | intricate |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | complicated, elaborate |
| Synonyms: | abstruse, baroque, can of worms*, complex, convoluted, difficult, fancy, hard, involved, labyrinthine, obscure, perplexing, rococo, sophisticated, tangled, tortuous, tricky, Byzantine, Daedal, entangled, high-tech |
| Antonyms: | direct, methodical, simple, systematic, understandable |
* = informal/non-formal usage
Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition
Copyright © 2009 by the Philip Lief Group.
Cite This Source
Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition
Copyright © 2009 by the Philip Lief Group.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2009, Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
