| 释义 |
difficultadj.n. Origin: Probably a borrowing from Latin. Etymon: Latin difficilis. Etymology: Probably < classical Latin difficilis difficile adj., with alteration of the ending after difficulty n. Compare later difficul adj.Specific senses. In use in sense A. 2b perhaps partly after French difficile difficile adj. (1587 in this sense). With use as noun compare earlier difficulty n. Specific forms. The β. forms show reduction of the vowel in the final syllable and development of a labial glide after the medial /k/. A. adj. 1. Not easy. a1400 tr. Lanfranc (Ashm.) (1894) 99 (MED) To consowde olde woundis whiche þat ben difficult [?a1450 BL Add. deffykel; L. difficilia] to be consowdid. a1400 tr. Lanfranc (Ashm.) (1894) 105 Þe cheke be constreyned & difficulte of meuynge [L. motus difficilis]. 1517 S. Hawes (1928) x. 38 Yf apparaunce Of the cause..Be harde and dyffyculte in the vtteraunce. ?1580 M. K. tr. Luis de Granada xii. f. 53v To shewe vs therby the way to heauen, whiche before was austere and difficult. 1651 T. Hobbes iii. xxxvii. 233 The thing..is strange, and the naturall cause difficult to imagine. 1740 tr. C. Rollin (ed. 2) VII. 260 A river very difficult, as well in regard to its banks, as marshes on the sides of it. 1749 H. Fielding III. vii. vi. 43 The real Sentiments of Ladies were very difficult to be understood. View more context for this quotation 1793 J. Smeaton (ed. 2) Ded. 4 A plain and simple building, that has nevertheless been acknowledged to be, in itself, curious, difficult, and useful. 1814 W. Wordsworth v. 223 Knowledge..is difficult to gain. View more context for this quotation 1860 J. Tyndall i. viii 58 In some places I found the crevasses difficult. 1870 J. Yeats 89 Markets are so difficult of access. 1937 H. W. Tilman vi. 52 I wanted to have a look at the difficult part of the gorge to see if the route would still ‘go’. 1945 8 105 The problem of profaneness and blasphemy was delicate and difficult of approach. 1975 M. Bradbury (1979) viii. 135 The door is difficult to open, with his burden of books. 2014 16 Dec. (Late ed.) b12/3 A drug-resistant superbacteria that..is notoriously difficult to treat. the world > action or operation > difficulty > [adjective] a1527 R. Thorne in R. Hakluyt (1582) sig. B Things difficult [they] haue made facil. 1586 T. Bowes tr. P. de la Primaudaye I. 45 Good beginnings in all great matters are alwaies the difficultest part of them. 1600 J. Pory tr. J. Leo Africanus ii. 149 Necromancers..their arte is exceeding difficult. 1608 D. Tuvill f. 19v How difficult a thing it is, to love, and to be wise, and both at once. 1666 R. Boyle 326 The greatest and difficultest Changes. 1677 A. Marvell Let. 3 Feb. in (1971) II. 291 It is much difficulter for you to haue obtain'd an Injunction, then to retaine it. 1751 S. Johnson No. 172. ⁋14 Virtue is sufficiently difficult with any circumstances. 1799 R. Kirwan 10 [Their] difficult solubility in water. 1860 J. L. Motley (1868) I. i. 1 It is difficult to imagine a more universal disaster. 1876 J. B. Mozley (1877) ix. 195 Generosity to an equal is more difficult than generosity to an inferior. 1907 R. T. Taylor ii. 23 Much has been written and said about the supposed difficult task of cutting off a plaster cast. 1954 24 July 7/6 Umpires, who..take on a difficult job for which there is no tangible reward for perfection. 1969 M. Pugh xxvii. 194 It was difficult recruiting men. 2012 14 Jan. a11/1 It's very difficult to grow an economy with a shrinking population. the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > unintelligibility > depth, obscurity > [adjective] 1530 sig. D2 They determine oft so difficulte & straunge maters, & wade & wander so..from argument to argument with pro & contra. 1556 tr. J. de Flores sig. H3 If youre difficulte speakinge ouercome me. 1612 J. Brinsley v. 46 The difficultest things in their Authours. 1661 R. Boyle (1668) 53 Leaving out all such difficulter matters. 1702 (title) A military dictionary. Explaining all difficult terms in martial discipline, fortification, and gunnery. 1796 J. Farington 4 Jan. (1978) II. 466 The former read a difficult hand with fluency. 1857 H. T. Buckle I. xii. 659 Butler, one of the most difficult of our poets. 1875 Naval Cadets: Rep. Comm. Syst. Training H.M.S. Britannia 118/1 in (C. 1154) XV. 347 It is scarcely fair to pick out two questions, and say they are very difficult questions, and therefore the whole paper is very difficult. 1912 H. J. C. Grierson II. p. cxv Generally speaking, ‘Difficilior lectio potior’, the more difficult reading is the more likely to be the original. This applies forcibly in the case of a subtle and difficult author like Donne. 1989 L. Deighton xvii. 229 It was..a time for him to wrestle with his thoughts, to struggle with difficult ideas. 2006 Apr. 31/1 Some of the most difficult mathematical proofs of all time. the world > action or operation > adversity > [adjective] > full of hardship 1562 A. Golding tr. sig. D.3v It was..wyth the great perill of manye mennes soules, and thoffence of the faythfull, inespecially in so difficult [L. difficili] and contagious a tyme as that was. 1614 E. Grimeston tr. P. Matthieu ii. 126 Discourses of affaires of State in a troublesome and difficult time enter into seditious Spirits, as burning nailes do into greene wood. 1666 S. Pepys 1 Dec. (1972) VII. 393 Ready..to part with all his estate in these difficult times to advance the King's service. 1721 G. Berkeley 13 A private Family in difficult Circumstances,..ought to melt down their Plate. 1794 J. Sinclair XIII. xviii. 267 That decent pride and independence of mind, which animate mankind to bear with fortitude the hardships of the most difficult and trying situations. 1842 F. Marryat II. i. 98 You have been put in most difficult situations, and always have fallen upon your feet in the end. 1860 ‘G. Eliot’ III. vi. xi. 468 O it is difficult—life is very difficult. 1929 E. Hemingway i. xi. 79 Sometimes we talked and were good friends but to-night it was difficult. 1940 M. Lowry Let. 24 Apr. in (1995) I. 317 My passion for rushing headlong into the field..has somewhat cooled during this difficult period of waiting for the recruiting offices to open. 2011 28 Jan. 20/1 Christmas was very difficult for me. Everyone needs looking after. 2. Of a person or a person's character. the mind > will > decision > obstinacy or stubbornness > [adjective] c1503 R. Arnold f. xxviijv/2 That Such persones which were difficultie [read difficulte] ageynst the sayd ordre becallid afore my lorde mayr and aldirmen to be reformed bi their wise exortacions. 1645 J. Howell vi. viii. 17 I attended him also with the Note of your extraordinaries, wherein I find him somewhat difficult and dilatory yet. 1685 J. Evelyn 16 Sept. (1906) II. 477 His Majesty further said, that he was so extreamly difficult of miracles,..that if he should chance to see one himselfe,..he should apprehend it a delusion of his senses. 1749 H. Fielding V. xiv. ii. 118 Lady Bellaston will be as difficult to believe any thing against one who [etc.] . View more context for this quotation 1891 ‘L. Keith’ I. xiii. 248 Sir Robert had been rather a difficult husband—that is to say, he had occasionally taken his own way. the mind > will > decision > obstinacy or stubbornness > [adjective] > perverse the world > action or operation > difficulty > types of difficulty > [adjective] > difficult or intractable (of things) > difficult to deal with (of persons) 1589 G. Puttenham i. xii. 22 To make him ambitious of honour, iealous and difficult in his worships. 1614 E. Grimeston tr. P. Matthieu viii. 9 He was difficult and seuere to them that were his equals. 1663 J. Heath (ed. 2) 7 Being in his own nature of a difficult disposition..and one that would have due distances observed towards him. 1734 tr. C. Rollin II. 325 Children were accustomed betimes not to be nice or difficult in their eating. 1773 O. Goldsmith i. 7 I'll..look out for some less difficult admirer. 1854 W. M. Thackeray (1855) II. ix. 87 My temper is difficult. 1889 J. R. Lowell Walton in (1891) 81 He [sc. Cotton] also wrote verses which the difficult Wordsworth could praise. 1904 20 Jan. 3/2 Lady Verona refers to her husband as ‘rather difficult’. 1975 21 Nov. 25/1 ‘You're just being difficult,’ I snapped. 2015 10 July 15/1 Tennis tolerates emotional, egoistical, difficult people, as well as modest and gracious individuals. 1897 O. G. Jones p. xxii Difficult Courses: Great End Central Gully (chimney finish). Pillar Rock by Right Pisgah... Exceptionally Severe Courses: Screes Great Gully [etc.]. 1909 1 318 This club strongly urges upon its members..[not to try] any of the courses given below until they have led up at least ten of the courses classified as difficult. 1961 G. Moffat (Glossary) 197 British climbs are graded Easy, Moderate, Difficult, Very Difficult, Severe, Very Severe, Extremely Severe, with confusing shades between. Difficult is not the same standard as the French Difficile but much easier. 2012 T. Sleaford & T. Corker 18 The range of difficulty encountered..ranges from scrambly walks (clambering)..up to ‘Difficult’ standard. A short rope and some equipment could be useful for the latter. B. n.the world > action or operation > difficulty > [noun] ?1532 f. iiv Yf that occasyon of dyffycult chaunce betwene any of the sayd countrees that it be auoyded louyngly amonge them yf it maye be. 1581 R. Turnar in J. Marbeck 706 Neither to be discouraged in ye reading of ye scriptures, because of the multitude of the great difficults therein, neither yet to be too bolde with the plainenesse of certeine places. 1603 W. Leighton sig. E4v The first attempteth matters of great doubt, And in strange obiects, difficults most bolde, Still to effect the worke she goes about. 1675 T. Mace 18 Now do but fancy all things thus amended, All Difficults in Travels sure are ended. 1709 J. Spelman & T. Hearne ii. 95 What Difficult Ælfred had to recover the Land. 2. With the. 1637 J. Buck 95 Whereas the difficult and angry, vexe their owne ghost,..the meeke and moderate..[enjoy] the favour of God. 1671 J. Milton iv. 86 The Tempter..repli'd..Nothing will please the difficult and nice. 1931 (N. Carolina State Board of Health) Jan. 13/1 The difficult are that way. When they like a person they go to extremes to show their liking.., and if they do not like you they go to equal extremes to show that they do not. 1981 14 95 The expansion of asylums..enabled families..to dispose of ever-increasing numbers of the awkward, the difficult, and the senile. 2013 C. Lashley in L. C. Burrello et al. iii. 43 These alternatives would result in the public school becoming institutions that serve only children and families who are poor, the difficult, or the outcast. 1830 B. Hanbury in I. p. ix A few Notes here and there interspersed to elucidate the difficult. 1833 tr. G. Pecchio 221 That nation does not run after the difficult or the extravagant, but the useful. 1882 19 Aug. 308/2 We should deal with the difficult and the complex in as realistic a manner as we do with the simple. 1926 41 895 Our poet yearned to understand the difficult and the lofty. 1968 76 309 The teacher who feels threatened by the new, the difficult, and the unexpected. 1995 S. Aubenas in M. M. Hambourg et al. 95/1 His insatiable appetite for the difficult and the novel. 1951 E. Coxhead ii. 86 ‘An easy Difficult, isn't it?’... She herself led Very Difficults. 1963 A. Greenbank v. 62 Climb first with a safe leader who will take you up easy grades of climbs—‘moderates’, ‘difficults’ and ‘very difficults’. 1986 May 24/1 A Difficult on a small gritstone outcrop in Yorkshire may be much more demanding..than a Very Difficult in North Wales. 2006 (Nexis) 3 Dec. (Features section) 8 Before you reach it [sc. E, extremely severe] there are nine other grades to climb through. They start with easy and move through moderate, difficult, very difficult, [etc.]. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022). difficultv. Origin: Formed within English, by conversion; partly modelled on a French lexical item, and partly modelled on a Latin lexical item. Etymon: difficult adj. Etymology: < difficult adj.; partly after Middle French difficulter to make difficult (second half of the 15th cent.; beginning of the 15th cent. in sense ‘to consider (something) carefully’), and its etymon post-classical Latin difficultare to make difficult, obstruct (in an undated glossary; frequently from 13th cent. in British sources; from 15th cent. in continental sources) < classical Latin difficultās difficulty n. Compare Italian difficoltare to make (something) difficult (a1527), to cause (problems or difficulties for a person or group of people) (a1667). Compare difficultate v., difficilitate v. Now rare. c1475 (c1445) R. Pecock (1921) 115 Suche teching is forgid, feynyd and veyn curiosite, difficultyng, harding and derking goddis lawe. the world > action or operation > difficulty > of difficulty: beset (a person) [verb (transitive)] > make difficult 1608 C. Cornwallis Let. 29 Dec. in E. Sawyer (1725) II. 468 Your Lordships will not hold so great an inequallity sufferrable; that the King's Ambassador there should not only have a free Correspondencye with his Master's Subjects, but a contynuall Resort and Conference with those of his Majesties; then to me here, that one should be restrayned and the other difficulted. 1647 T. Powell tr. V. Malvezzi 64 The profit of the Prince in such an errour..hinders traffick with strangers, and difficults it among his home merchants. a1698 W. Temple Let. to Ld. Treasurer in (1731) II. 484 Having desisted from their pretensions, which had difficulted the peace. 1751 C. Bisset iii. iii. 176 The Approaches to their Faces, which regard the River, will be very much difficulted, by their being exposed to the Fire of the interior Breastworks. 1818 H. J. Todd at Difficultate The late lord chancellor Thurlow was fond of using the verb difficult; as, he difficulted the matter; but he was pronounced unjustifiable in this usage. 1912 29 June 451/3 The rainy weather..considerably difficults the transportation of the cane to the sugar-houses. 2006 F. A. Medeiros tr. R. Susanna & F. A. Medeiros i. 3 The appearance of the optic disc varies widely.., difficulting the recognition of pathological changes. the world > action or operation > difficulty > of difficulty: beset (a person) [verb (transitive)] > put (a person) in difficulty 1641 Earl of Monmouth tr. G. F. Biondi I. v. 153 Being thus difficulted [It. in tai difficultà], the defendants demanded a truce untill Saint Iohn Baptists-day. a1665 W. Guthrie (1680) 53 Difficulting all the People of God, puting them all to their wits end. 1718 R. Wodrow (1843) II. 410 How far the alterations..may straiten and difficult some ministers who have formerly sworn the oath. 1782 J. Brown Addr. Students Divinity in p. xix If you be..difficulted how to act. 1813 J. Ballantyne in J. G. Lockhart (1839) 29 This business has always been..difficulted by all its capital..being lent the printing-office. 1845 G. Bush 51 We are not difficulted at all on the score of the relation which the new plant bears to the old. 1861 W. E. Aytoun I. 155 The poor lads might be difficulted to find meal for their porridge. 1965 S. Fleischman viii. 85 I was difficulted to think of some way to save my neck. 2010 J. Harding xxiv. 190 It difficulted me greatly that I could think of no way to get Theo into the house. Derivatives the world > action or operation > difficulty > [noun] > making difficult the world > action or operation > difficulty > [adjective] > making difficult a1609 F. Vere (1657) 119 Lest the overtimely stirring of them..might give the enemy an alarm, to the difficulting of the enterprise. 1643 Duke of Ormonde 19 Oct. in T. Carte (1735) III. 180 Certain Parliament ships..hinder the coming in of Vessels, and the relief they would bring us,..to the difficulting of this service. 1686 J. Renwick (1776) xviii. 212 There is not a case that can put Him to a non-plus or difficulting extremity. 1784 A. Gib 30 Getting what they thought necessary for that purpose marked in the minutes, about what was dissatisfying or difficulting to them in any business transacted. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022). <  adj.n.a1400 v.c1475 |
