| 释义 |
difficulty|ˈdɪfɪkəltɪ|
Also 4–6 dyff-, -te, 5–6 -tee, -tye, 6–7 -tie.
[ad. L. difficultās, -tātem (f. dif-, dis- + facultas faculty), perh. immed. through OF. or AF. difficulté.
In OF. the word is as yet recorded only of 15th c.; it may have been in earlier use in Anglo-Fr.; but the English word, which was common before 1400, may have been formed directly from L., on the type of the many existing words in -té corresponding to L. words in -tas, e.g. povreté, pureté.]
1. The quality, fact, or condition of being difficult; the character of an action that requires labour or effort; hardness to be accomplished; the opposite of ease or facility.
1382Wyclif Num. xx. 19 No difficulte shal be in the prijs. 1398Trevisa Barth De P.R. xii. ii. (1495) 409 Yf..the Egle hath thre byrdes, she throwyth oute one of her neste for dyffyculte of fedyng. c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 7969 His sonn with grete difficulte Gart his fader monke to be. 1513More in Grafton Chron. (1568) II. 786 He speedily without any difficultie..brought the matter to a good conclusion. 1667Milton P.L. ii. 449 If aught..in the shape Of difficulty or danger could deterre Me. 1719De Foe Crusoe (1840) I. viii. 139, I had no great difficulty to cut it down. 1759Robertson Hist. Scot. I. ii. 134 Nor was this reconcilement a matter of difficulty. 1770Junius Lett. xli. 208, I have been deterred by the difficulty of the task. 1797Mrs. Radcliffe Italian i, She walked with difficulty. 1860Tyndall Glac. ii. x. 283 The difficulty of thus directing a chain over crevasses and ridges. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 261 Socrates has no difficulty in showing that virtue is a good.
b. Said of the object of an action (the nature of which is contextually implied: cf. difficult a. 1 b).
1747Col. Rec. Pennsylv. V. 103 The Length and Difficulty of the Bay. Mod. The steepness and difficulty of the direct path. A route of considerable difficulty.
c. The quality of being hard to understand; perplexing character, obscurity.
1529More Supplic. Soulys Wks. 321/1 Because that of the difficultie of his [St. Paul's] writing thei catch some⁓time some matter of contencion. 1644Milton Educ. Wks. (1847) 100/1 If the language be difficult..it is not a difficulty above their years. 1860Farrar Orig. Lang. i. 21 The difficulty and obscurity of the phrase.
2. with a and pl. A particular instance of this quality; that which is difficult.
a. A thing hard to do or overcome; a hindrance to action.
a1619Daniel Funeral Poem (R.), Nor how by mastering difficulties so..He bravely came to disappoint his foe. a1716South (J.), They mistake difficulties for impossibilities. 1775Burke Corr. (1844) II. 53, I see, indeed, many, many difficulties in the way. 1856Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. ii. 130 As difficulties gathered round him, he encountered them with the increasing magnificence of his schemes. 1880Geikie Phys. Geog. iv. 232 A difficulty may sometimes be felt in understanding how [etc.]. 1893Westm. Gaz. 13 Feb. 1/2 To parade difficulties is the delight of the pedant; to grapple with them is the task of the statesman. Mod. The children, I admit, are a difficulty.
b. Something hard to understand; a perplexing or obscure point or question.
c1385Chaucer Friar's T. Prol. 8 Ye han her touchid..In scole matier gret difficulte. a1500Chester Pl. (1892) 118 Discussing this difficulty. 1577tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 29 There is no cause for anye man by reason of a few difficulties, to dispaire to attaine to the true vnder⁓standinge of the Scriptures. 1692R. L'Estrange Fables No. 494 (1708) I. 540 When People have been Beating their Brains about a Difficulty, and find they can make Nothing on't. 1770Beattie Ess. Truth ii. i. §1 (R.), Let us see, then, whether..we can make any discovery preparatory to the solution of this difficulty. a1843J. H. Newman Par. Serm., Chr. Myst. (1868) I. 211 Difficulties in revelation are especially given to prove the reality of our faith.
c. An embarrassement of affairs; a condition in which action, co-operation, or progress is difficult; a trouble; often spec. a pecuniary embarrassment. (Usually in pl.)
1705Addison Italy (J.), They lie under some difficulties, by reason of the emperour's displeasure, who has forbidden their manufactures. a1715Burnet Own Times I. 346 The king was under no difficulties by anything they had done. 1831F. A. Kemble Jrnl. in Rec. Girlhood (1878) III. 68 Mr Brunton..is in ‘difficulties’ (civilized plural for debt). 1861Smiles Engineers II. 142 A serious difficulty occurred between him and his wife on this very point, which ended in a separation. 1885Law Times LXXIX. 173/2 In Dec. 1867 the company fell into difficulties. 1886Tip Cat xix. 254 Come to me if you..are in any difficulty or trouble.
3. Reluctance, unwillingness (see difficult a. 2 b); demur, objection. Obs. exc. in phr. to make a difficulty or difficulties, now associated with 2 a; formerly † to make difficulty, i.e. to show reluctance.
1513More in Grafton Chron. (1568) II. 795 The Protector made great difficultie to come to them. 1548Hall Chron., Hen. V, 70 b, To obeye us without opposicion, contradiccion or difficultee. a1608Sir F. Vere Comm. 119 Her Majesty..with some difficulty (as her manner was) granted the men to be levied. 1687T. Smith in Madg. Coll. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) 18 Hee making severall difficultyes. 1769Robertson Chas. V, II. vi. 95 This she granted with some difficulty. 1769Goldsmith Rom. Hist. (1786) II. 355 Apollonius..made no difficulty of coming from Greece to Rome. 1873Tristram Moab xiii. 239 They..never made any difficulties or demands. |
