difficultydif‧fi‧cul‧ty /ˈdɪfɪkəlti/ ●●● S2 W1 noun (plural difficulties) 
They had great difficulty in finding a replacement.with/without difficulty He got to his feet with difficulty. ► Do not say that someone ‘has difficulty to do something’. Say that someone has difficulty doing something or has difficulty in doing something.2[countable usually plural] a problem or something that causes troubledifficulty with There are several difficulties with this theory. If you have any difficulties, give me a call. The project soon ran into difficulties. Difficulties can arise when there is more than one defendant.3[uncountable] if you are in difficulty, you are in a situation in which you have problemsin difficulty The business is in financial difficulty.get/run into difficulty (=get into a difficult situation) She soon got into difficulty with debt.4[uncountable] the quality of being difficult to dothe difficulty of (doing) something the difficulty of solving such problems5[uncountable] how difficult something is: The tests vary in difficulty. → learning difficultiesCOLLOCATIONS– Meaning 2verbshave difficulties· By the age of eight, Robbie was having difficulties at school.run into/get into difficulties (=find yourself in a difficult situation)· Three people were rescued from a boat that had got into difficulties.experience/encounter difficulties formal (=have difficulties)· Graduates often experience considerable difficulties in getting their first job.face difficulties· The hotel’s owners were facing financial difficulties.overcome/resolve difficulties (=deal with them successfully)· We are confident that we can overcome these difficulties.present/pose difficulties formal (=be something that is difficult to deal with)· English spelling may present some difficulties for learners.be fraught with difficulties (=involve a lot of them)· The whole plan was fraught with difficulties.cause/lead to difficulties· Stress and worry both cause sleep difficulties.give rise to difficulties formal (=cause them)· The stormy weather gave rise to difficulties for many of the competitors in the yacht race.difficulties arise (=happen)· It’s best to discuss any difficulties that arise rather than trying to deal with them alone.adjectivesmajor/serious/severe difficulties· By then, we were having serious financial difficulties.considerable difficulties (=a lot of problems)· They had considerable difficulties in getting funding for their research.technical difficulties· The flight was delayed due to technical difficulties.practical difficulties (=problems with doing something)· It’s a great idea, but there will be a number of practical difficulties.financial/economic difficulties· The company is facing serious financial difficulties.breathing difficulties· She was taken to hospital with breathing difficulties.marital difficulties (=in a marriage)· You may need help in dealing with your marital difficulties.
WORD ORIGINdifficulty
Origin:
1300-1400 Latin difficultas, from difficilis ‘difficult’, from facilis ‘easy’EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- Credit cards make it extremely easy to get into difficulty with debt.
- I don't expect major difficulties, although there are still differences to be worked out.
- Manchester United won easily, and never seemed to be in any difficulty.
- Police officers in most Californian cities need to be able to cope with language difficulties and cultural differences.
- Some parents experienced difficulty when they tried to move their children to other schools.
- The difficulties of counting whales makes most population figures extremely unreliable.
- The books vary in level of difficulty.
- The main difficulty with this method is that it takes twice as long.
- The nation faces severe economic difficulties.
- Youngsters may have difficulty applying the paint because of its thin consistency.
- Freddie is having difficulties, too.
- She lent me a couple of hundred quid because I was in financial difficulty.
- The difficulties of experimentation in this area are well known.
- The traditional way of undertaking market research is through using questionnaires but there are difficulties in gathering information by this method.
- This step should ensure that the difficulty level and the volume of material in any one session are right for the students.
- Whitehall officials have encountered difficulties in deciding which essential services to include.
- Work-inhibited children often have difficulty engaging in competitive play.
Longman Language Activatorto have problems when you are trying to do something
if you have difficulty when you are trying to do something, you cannot easily do it: have difficulty/trouble (in) doing something: · It was obvious the patient was having great difficulty breathing.have difficulty/trouble with something: · A lot of Japanese students of English have trouble with the pronunciation of "b's and "v's.
to not be able to do something easily, especially because you do not have enough ability or skill: · I found the course difficult at first, but it gradually got easier.find it difficult to do something: · She always found it difficult to keep up with the rest of the class.
if you do something with difficulty , you can do it, but only by using all your strength, all your determination etc: · She spoke with difficulty, choking back her tears.
to find it difficult to do something, especially because there are unexpected problems or because you have difficulty persuading other people: · I tried to find the house but I had such a hard time, I decided to give up.have a hard time doing something: · I'm still having a hard time getting the company to pay me.
if you can hardly or can barely do something, especially something physical, it is so difficult that you almost cannot do it: · By the end of the day she could hardly walk.· The smell was so bad that I could barely force myself to stay in the room.
if a situation or job is too much for someone , it is too difficult for them to deal with: · All the bullying and back-stabbing in the office was simply too much for him.· The job was too much for any single manager to cope with.
if something is a struggle you have to try very hard and even suffer in order to do it: · Clark lived 112 days on the artificial heart, and each day was a struggle.· She managed to get her money out of the welfare office, but only after a struggle.it is a struggle (for somebody) to do something: · It was a struggle for my mother to understand our lifestyle, but she tried very hard.it is a struggle doing something: · It was a struggle trying to feed a family of five on my salary.
if you say someone would be hard put or hard pressed to do something, you doubt that they would be able to do it because you think it is too difficult: · The two girls look so similar that you'd be hard put to tell the difference between them.· The governor will be hard pressed to find more money for schools while dealing with a $6 billion budget deficit.
also have your work cut out informal to have to work very hard if you are going to succeed in doing something: · I'll have my work cut out to get this design finished by this afternoon.· Rice hopes to break the record during tonight's game, but he'll have his work cut out for him.
informal to have to start doing something difficult such as a new job without people making it easier for you because you are new: · When I first started teaching I was really thrown in at the deep end -- I had a class of forty six-year-olds all on my own.
British spoken if you have a job doing something , it takes a lot of time or a lot of effort, and you may not be able to do it: · You'll have a job persuading him to give you any more money.· There was some kind of festival going on, and we had a job finding somewhere to park the car.
something that causes difficulties a bad situation that must be dealt with, because it is causing harm or inconvenience, or it is stopping you from doing what you want to do: have a problem: · If you have any problems, give me a call.problem with: · Sue's had a lot of problems with her neighbours recently.cause/create problems: · The new traffic system is causing problems for everyone.solve a problem (=find a way to deal with it): · Scientists still have not solved the problem of what to do with nuclear waste.the drug/crime etc problem: · Federal laws have almost no effect on the crime problem that concerns most people - crime on the streets.problem of: · The problem of substance abuse in high school is widespread.big/serious problem: · Our biggest problem is lack of money.· Whiteflies can be a serious problem that affects produce grown in California and other states.
a problem that makes it more difficult to do something that you are trying to do: · I don't expect major difficulties, although there are still differences to be worked out.difficulty with: · The main difficulty with this method is that it takes twice as long.have difficulty with (doing) something: · Youngsters may have difficulty applying the paint because of its thin consistency.get into difficulty/difficulties (=start to have problems in a situation): · Credit cards make it extremely easy to get into difficulty with debt.economic/financial difficulty: · The nation faces severe economic difficulties.language/technical/legal etc difficulty: · Police officers in most Californian cities need to be able to cope with language difficulties and cultural differences.face/experience difficulty: · Some parents experienced difficulty when they tried to move their children to other schools.be in difficulty/difficulties (=be in a situation that has problems): · Manchester United won easily, and never seemed to be in any difficulty.difficulty of doing something: · The difficulties of counting whales makes most population figures extremely unreliable.
a problem or several problems that make something difficult, spoil your plans etc: · The trouble was caused by a loose connection in the fuse box.· If you used the same tape later and had no sound trouble, the problem is in the video recorder, not the tape.trouble with: · The pilot reported trouble with both engines.have trouble: · We have had a lot of trouble with the car this year.have trouble doing something: · Norris had trouble finding work and is still unemployed.cause trouble: · Snow and freezing temperatures caused trouble at many airports.the trouble with something (=the one feature of something that is a problem): · The trouble with lasagne is that it takes so long to make.
informal a problem or a series of problems that are annoying because they involve a lot of work, arguing, inconvenience etc: · The airline doesn't make seat assignments, which can be a hassle for travelers, but it saves money.· Shopping by mail avoids the hassles of crowded stores at Christmastime.legal/bureaucratic etc hassles: · Byrd says he settled the claim to avoid legal hassles.it's too much hassle: · I don't want to organize a big party - it's too much hassle.
an additional problem that makes a situation even harder to deal with than it already is: · One complication is that the meals also need to be suitable for children of Islamic or Jewish faiths.· Legal and financial complications have made it impossible for the two companies to complete the deal on time.
a small problem within a long process: · The plan has a hitch: drilling holes for the owls in the trees will kill the trees. without a hitch (=without any problems): · The parade went off without a hitch, despite concern about protestors.· The shuttle landed without a hitch at Edwards Air Force Base.there's a hitch: · There was a hitch - about half the employees did not want to move to a different city.hitch in: · Nelson refused to comment on reports of a last-minute hitch in the negotiations.technical hitch: · There's been a slight technical hitch, so we'll have to postpone the video until later.
a small problem which is not very important compared to other things: · There was a slight hiccup when I couldn't find my car keys, but finally we set off.· The airline industry's troubles are a mere hiccup in an otherwise upward growth trend.
a small problem or disadvantage in something which is mainly good and satisfactory: · The cleanup effort was delayed for a few days by some technical snags and equipment problems.hit a snag/run into a snag: · The case hit a snag in October when the judge handling it had to be replaced.last-minute snag: · The House worked out some last-minute snags in the legislation.
a hidden problem or disadvantage in an offer that seems very good - use this especially when you think the problem has been deliberately hidden to trick people: there's a catch: · You get free meals and accommodation, but there's a catch -- you have to look after the children.with a catch: · Many of the best deals come with a catch: they are only good through early summer.the catch is (that): · The catch is that you can't enter the contest unless you have spent $50 in the store.
British small problems that a new company, product, system etc has at the beginning: · After a few teething troubles, the new car worked perfectly.· The disagreement was just one of the teething problems of the partnership.
when a fact or situation causes problems to cause a problem that has to be dealt with: · You would be the only woman on a staff of over thirty men, which could create problems.· Both parents and teachers are worried about the problems posed by drugs.cause/create/pose a problem for: · Rebecca was frequently late for work, which caused problems for her colleagues.· Rising inflation could pose a major problem for the government.
to cause problems for someone and make it difficult or inconvenient for them to do what they want to do: · Petty arguments between staff have made the manager's life difficult.make life difficult for: · The rail strikes are making life increasingly difficult for people who have to travel into London every day.
if an activity or a plan presents a problem , there is a problem connected with it that has to be dealt with: · Constructing a highway in this area would present enormous difficulties.present a problem/difficulty for: · Live television programmes present special problems for the broadcaster.present somebody with a problem/difficulty: · Britain's relationship with other members of the European Union presents Blair with problems, just as it did for the Tories.
something that is troublesome keeps causing problems over a period of time: · The infection can be particularly troublesome if it affects the lungs or throat.· The plant is regarded as a troublesome weed in rice fields.
informal to cause problems over a period of time that are difficult to deal with: · Messy walkways and picnic tables are just some of the headaches caused by the hundreds of ducks that gather by the lake.be a headache for: · Censorship is always a constant headache for newspapers in the republic.give somebody a headache: · The scandal has given the minister a very public headache.
if difficulties, illnesses, doubts, problems etc plague someone, there are a lot of them and they keep causing trouble for a long time: · Social problems plague these low-income communities.· The area is plagued by soil erosion and flooding.
if a problem or bad luck dogs someone or something, it keeps causing trouble for a long time and prevents them from succeeding: · The team has been dogged by injury all season.· Zambia had none of the heritage of war and violence that dogged, say, Kenya or Zimbabwe.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY Meaning 2verbs Our yard is only small, and has the added disadvantage of facing north. It may not be necessary to go to the added expense of updating your anti-virus software. We don’t anticipate any problems. nuclear power, with all its attendant risks Helmut’s problems were compounded by his lack of concentration. They encountered serious problems when two members of the expedition were injured. Many old people will experience problems as the result of retirement. The business ran into financial difficulties almost immediately. unforeseen delays in supplying the equipmentCOLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADJECTIVE
· By the age of eight, Robbie was having difficulties at school.
(=find yourself in a difficult situation)· Three people were rescued from a boat that had got into difficulties.
formal (=have difficulties)· Graduates often experience considerable difficulties in getting their first job.
· The hotel’s owners were facing financial difficulties.
(=deal with them successfully)· We are confident that we can overcome these difficulties.
formal (=be something that is difficult to deal with)· English spelling may present some difficulties for learners.
(=involve a lot of them)· The whole plan was fraught with difficulties.
· Stress and worry both cause sleep difficulties.
formal (=cause them)· The stormy weather gave rise to difficulties for many of the competitors in the yacht race.
(=happen)· It’s best to discuss any difficulties that arise rather than trying to deal with them alone.
adjectives· By then, we were having serious financial difficulties.
(=a lot of problems)· They had considerable difficulties in getting funding for their research.
· The flight was delayed due to technical difficulties.
(=problems with doing something)· It’s a great idea, but there will be a number of practical difficulties.
· The company is facing serious financial difficulties.
· She was taken to hospital with breathing difficulties.
(=in a marriage)· You may need help in dealing with your marital difficulties.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES Our yard is only small, and has the added disadvantage of facing north. It may not be necessary to go to the added expense of updating your anti-virus software. We don’t anticipate any problems. nuclear power, with all its attendant risks· In high altitudes some people have trouble breathing.
Helmut’s problems were compounded by his lack of concentration. They encountered serious problems when two members of the expedition were injured. Many old people will experience problems as the result of retirement.· The hotel’s owners were facing financial difficulties.
· a special telephone for people with hearing problems
· Physical education and games pose difficulties for short-sighted children.
· The local Social Services Department may be able to help with practical problems.
· Juggling work and family responsibilities presents difficulties for women.
The business ran into financial difficulties almost immediately.· The clothing industry has experienced severe problems in recent years.
· You can't solve your difficulties by running away.
unforeseen delays in supplying the equipment· Disability and age While the vast majority of older people are able to live independently, significant minorities experience considerable difficulties.· However, there are considerable difficulties associated with assessment for selection.· When the need for assistance is not even recognised, there is considerable difficulty for any advice agency in providing assistance.· She wrote straightway to Ellen, though not without considerable difficulty.· With considerable difficulty, Kirov managed to hoist the photographer to his feet, supporting his dead-weight by his arm-pits.· The incremental approach is often appropriate for any child with considerable learning difficulties.· She documents the considerable difficulties involved for researchers in approaching bereaved families and countering the disapproval of many outside agencies.
· Under Mrs Thatcher, it at last appeared that our chronic industrial and economic difficulties were being surmounted.· The extreme social and economic difficulties they faced on independence meant that the emergence of recognizably democratic party politics was by no means certain.· The Labour Government was haunted constantly by economic difficulties, largely caused by an adverse balance of payments.· But some of the country's economic difficulties have direct and indirect effects on provision.· John Barons, chief executive of the owners, Century Newspapers, blamed economic difficulties.· Gallup has asked ever since 1964 which party voters think could handle Britain's economic difficulties best.· The immediate effects of changing the system has been characterised by economic difficulties in the new federal states.· There may be all sorts of social and economic difficulties affecting the family of which the school is unaware.
· Death and financial difficulties finally finished off the business around 1809.· Income growth then will slow, companies will have less cash to buy back their stock and some will face financial difficulty.· The firm's been in financial difficulties and moved out of its premises in the Brunel Centre last month.· All the same, most of us feel that we have financial difficulties.· He claimed she had been in severe financial difficulties at the time.· But he quashed rumours that the Red Fort had been quietly put up for sale due to his financial difficulties.· But its financial difficulties have deterred potential investors.· The patient who was self-employed with his own business before his illness may have much greater financial difficulties than the employed worker.
· I see now that the simplest reconstruction is fraught with difficulty.· One answer in the report is fraught with difficulty: to put an economic value on water.· But it is also one that could be fraught with difficulty.· The changes in health that have taken place in El Salvador have inevitably been uneven, fraught with difficulties and contradictions.· Their ten years of marriage have been fraught with difficulties that neither could have foreseen.· But even the comparatively simple task of head-counting is fraught with difficulties.· It is this lack of codified certainty that makes a study of it so fraught with difficulty.· This is fraught with logistical difficulties for the purchaser.
· Yet a great difficulty, if not a scandal remains.· Even greater difficulties follow from the way in which Marx identifies production with human essence.· The War drained men from many schools which then experienced great difficulty in maintaining staffing levels.· Deborah believed that this outlook came from his fa-ther; she knew that Tom had great difficulty facing these emotions.· The umpire, who was having great difficulty controlling his dapple-grey pony, hurled the ball in.· It was only with the greatest of difficulty that the League could be persuaded to do its job in Danzig.· Where that popular base does not exist such laws are only imposed on the population with great difficulty, if at all.· It is often the person facing the greatest difficulties who is capable of feeling joy in life.
· I have had a little difficulty with it.· Similarly the Dun & Bradstreet performance quality breakthrough teams had little difficulty identifying specific six-to-eight-week objectives.· The puppy will then settle in with relatively little difficulty as a member of the family.· She had little difficulty in learning when the men planned to depart and where they would stay.· Most students have very little difficulty in learning how to make satisfactory launches.· The ancient pattern of the Sanctus can be maintained in our culture with little difficulty.· They then experienced little difficulty in deciding of what private morality consisted.· He had a little bit of difficulty with reproducing the shapes.
· People lacking supportive relationships were expected to be prone to depression whether or not they experienced major difficulties or threatening events.· The major difficulty is what to do with it once it has been read, analyzed, shredded, and burn-bagged.· Given this, determining the nature of the interactions between the variables becomes a matter of major difficulty.· The major difficulties are overcrowding, lack of books and materials, and low teacher morale.· The major difficulty with this contract-based approach is the doctrine of privity of contract.· One of the major factors creating difficulties in obtaining information is randomness in the external environment facing the firm.· The major difficulty with comparing solar panels is that manufacturers' output figures can not be compared.· A major difficulty arises when fossil species disappear for good as the physical environment, over millions of years, inevitably changes.
· The way these responsibilities were divided presented particular difficulties in work on integration.· In this way they may indicate a preference as to which particular difficulty will be addressed first.· A particular difficulty about task synthesis is that there is no easy way of confirming completeness.· Therefore, no particular difficulty arises.· We will continue to finance training programmes for the long-term unemployed and those who face particular difficulties.· This was considered generally impractical and in view of the particular difficulties of carrying out social research in Belfast, probably unattainable.· It was in this particular field of difficulty that Balanchine sometimes showed his deep understanding.· So far, this phenomenon does not seem to raise particular difficulties in cloning.
· But such practical difficulties can easily be overstated.· It is a murky field at best, and the practical difficulties in the Viet-namese environment were daunting.· It also raised serious practical difficulties.· The practical difficulty, of course, is to ensure that a partner agrees to a dormant status.· In addition to these practical difficulties, there are more principled objections.· However, it represents a number of practical operating difficulties, mainly because the process converts material rather than destroys it.· Equally, one needs to be clear on the nature of the practical difficulties associated with computer-aided text-processing.· There are practical difficulties with parallel computers.
· These two factors together mean that the fundamentals of the metric system present difficulties to them.· These special categories, forming a substantial part of the collection, present special difficulties because of their age, condition and value.· The present difficulties stem from the recession and the collapse of the housing market.· He talked of the future; he made light of the present and its difficulties until Lucy lost sight of them too.· Ask yourself again if there are any contact points between the hurts or wrongs of the past and your present difficulties.· It is this contract, which Mr Morton inherited when he joined Eurotunnel, that lies at the heart of present difficulties.· Categories 1 and 3 present relatively few difficulties.· But the methods present severe difficulties for a feminist psychology.
· The real difficulty is surely whether scio raises a trust at all.· They tried to move away, but they had real emotional difficulties doing that.· If there is a real difficulty, get in touch with some one from their local community to see if they can provide an interpreter.· Time is required, often to summon the courage necessary to talk about their real problems and difficulties.· Herein, I think, lies the real difficulty about wooden aeroplanes.· Likewise the identification of the 500-akce kadiliks mentioned in the Kanunname presents a real difficulty.· Anyway, carry on and let me know if there are any real difficulties.· It is no denigration of his immense achievement to point to these real difficulties which it raises.
· It also raised serious practical difficulties.· There are, as far as l can see, other very serious difficulties with the strong-Al point of view.· This reply sounds very plausible, until one reflects on it; and then a serious difficulty emerges.· Widespread speculation is that several others are enduring serious financial difficulty and may eventually fold or merge with more successful companies.· However, even by the end of the war, the design had run into serious difficulties.· But it also raises serious difficulties.· Authors can also encounter some more serious difficulties.· However, the Locksfields firm was not without serious difficulties.
· They each have grown up sons with severe learning difficulties and need to be at home.· But he was beset by severe economic difficulties.· To these young men, this is their own very special pub because they all have severe learning difficulties.· The only B.Ed for children with severe learning difficulties had 20-29 hours of compulsory language work.· People with disabilities also experience severe difficulties in both training and the labour market.· Both the above quotations refer to severe learning difficulties but of course severe is a term open to varying interpretations.· In general, the staff/student ratio is rarely as good as in a school for children and young people with severe learning difficulties.· He claimed she had been in severe financial difficulties at the time.
· Then the runners arrive and the sustained technical difficulty takes over the interest.· There were a number of technical difficulties with the vote count.· Are there technical difficulties which would bother any members of the group - things like scrambling sections or exposed ridges?· The technical difficulty in bringing the changes to fruition says something about how dramatic they are.· However, increased use is being seriously inhibited by technical and conceptual difficulties.· We've had a few technical difficulties with the computer, or rather our printer has had trouble with it.· However, the interdependence of hardware and software poses formidable technical difficulties to running programs so transferred.
NOUN· Ward will also continue to oversee some learning difficulties projects supported by the foundation.· Both the above quotations refer to severe learning difficulties but of course severe is a term open to varying interpretations.· No one would deny that the origins of some learning difficulties do lie in the child.· Andrew, who has learning difficulties, is a keen violinist and has earned a place in Banks Brass Band.· But in this case the people with the learning difficulties are his colleagues in social services.· In general it seems that the greater the learning difficulties, the more didactic is the approach and the more controlling the relationship.· They families say that people with severe learning difficulties do not adapt well to sudden changes of environment.· Is it possible that some learning difficulties arise from the ways in which schools are organised and managed?
VERB· This shifted the conceptual focus away from needs as defined in relation to the child's handicap towards educational needs arising from learning difficulties.· In fact many of the severe events arose out of long-term difficulties.· This specification problem arises because of the difficulties, discussed above, in constructing a price variable for an activity.· A number of issues arose that emphasised the difficulties that safety committees encounter because of the absence of trade union representation.
· Such divisions of opinion were causing difficulties in the functioning of local medical committees.· At that time, my wife and I were also splitting up and it just caused some financial difficulties.· This may cause difficulty where the audience were annoyed or distressed by what the defendant was doing.· But subjects that are more abstract, such as scientific concepts or math, may cause them difficulties.· If the husband's name remained there, this could cause difficulties in respect of any claim as his receipt might be required.· The main factor for a road is public access, but where to draw the line causes difficulty.· It was still possible, however, for the issue of civil immunity to cause difficulties.· This can cause difficulties if wrong assumptions are drawn as to the potential of the new body.
· She felt a bit like some one caught in quicksand, whose every turn only succeeded in further compounding the difficulties.· But Brandeis' status as a hybrid of an elite liberal arts college and a small research university compounds its difficulty.· These shortcomings are clearly compounded by the difficulty of creating new titles.· Paradoxically, the relative unimportance of money in Soviet society compounds these difficulties.· To compound the difficulties, the track itself is a figure-of-eight, with a dizzying number of twists and turns.· A serious decline of leadership in local affairs compounds the difficulty.· Although these task demands can be identified, they may interact or compound the difficulty in particular tables.· Their effect was to compound the difficulty the liberal leadership had in bringing pressure for reform to bear upon the regime.
· A pedagogy which denies this perversely creates difficulties which hamper the learner in this task.· So the vicious cycle continues: we create daughters who have difficulty articulating their own needs and perceptions.· It has also created difficulties in furthering their cause effectively-be it in the courts or through bureaucratic channels.· One of the major factors creating difficulties in obtaining information is randomness in the external environment facing the firm.· Obviously this creates difficulties when staff wish to arrange extra-curricular activities.· While war could create serious difficulties for the merchant class, other social groups looked at it in a different light.· Fortunately these approaches create difficulties for the faker and also leave clues for the scientific investigator.· When the two subsections are juxtaposed, however, they seem to create a difficulty.
· Yet, by viewing history in this manner Kemp encounters an historiographical difficulty that he never satisfactorily resolves.· In their research, all found that new managers encountered special difficulties in working with more-experienced subordinates. 5.· Whitehall officials have encountered difficulties in deciding which essential services to include.· As a school-age child, she encounters difficulties comprehending instructions.· If they buy on credit are they likely to encounter difficulties in repaying the loan?· Constantly he creates situations for which he can find no earthly solution and his characters encounter difficulties beyond their means to control.· Authors can also encounter some more serious difficulties.· Problems of Status and Structure Volunteers who immediately assumed their permanent assignments also encountered difficulties.
· Instead they will expand currency swap facilities to bolster economies experiencing payment difficulties.· You may experience sleep difficulties caused by pain associated with surgery or other medical conditions such as arthritis.· Disability and age While the vast majority of older people are able to live independently, significant minorities experience considerable difficulties.· People lacking supportive relationships were expected to be prone to depression whether or not they experienced major difficulties or threatening events.· Pupils with impaired vision Pupils with impaired vision will obviously experience difficulty with reading.· In the survey mentioned above, the health sector was second only to mechanical engineering in the proportion of employers experiencing difficulties.· Unfortunately Carrera have been experiencing financial difficulties and ceased trading.· Even couples who already have children can experience difficulty in conceiving again.
· Now her family is setting up a charity to help children facing similar difficulties.· Still, catalog companies have faced many similar difficulties and still built a thriving, multibillion-dollar industry.· This much is perhaps to be expected from some one who faced insurmountable difficulties in coping with the work.· In adapting to this expanded role the auditor faces many difficulties.· Attractive though this approach is, it faces difficulties.· Better still, talk to other postgraduates who may have faced similar difficulties.· Yet students who have completed expensive training face the same difficulties as an untrained actor in qualifying for an Equity card.· We will continue to finance training programmes for the long-term unemployed and those who face particular difficulties.
· It seems clear that she found some difficulty in arriving at an assessment of her feelings in relation to me.· Switching off the lights, she found her way without difficulty in the darkness to the bed.· I find much more difficulty with the second proposition advanced by Mr. Collins.· Those who found difficulty in settling at Bunce Court had to sort out their own problems.· She found the place without difficulty.· Squids are so intelligent and swift-moving that they must find little difficulty in avoiding man's clumsy deep-sea dredges.· The boats can be viewed from the Quay but disabled visitors may find difficulty boarding them.· Those who accept the general orientation of modern science may well find considerable difficulty in coming to grips with this main point.
· During the 1960s, class numbers dropped sharply and concern for children with learning difficulties began to increase.· Gateway helps people with learning difficulties, particularly the mentally handicapped.· The question of how to empower those people marginalised through disabilities and learning difficulties is, thus, a central one.· When the scientists came to our school all the children were coming up with ideas, even those with learning difficulties.· For a young person with a disability or learning difficulty this transition is crucial.· Is it primarily a handbook for managers or a review of developments in services for people with learning difficulties?· I would be interested to hear from anyone who has developed other means of communicating with people with learning difficulties.
· During this year my father too succeeded in overcoming his difficulties with the language and with his new pupils.· Only great eagerness to learn, on the part of the people, will make it possible to overcome immense difficulties here.· This did not deter this student from persisting with different approaches to overcome difficulties.· So a search began for ways of overcoming the difficulty.· To overcome these difficulties, kings made increasing use of money.· Only those strategies used to overcome difficulties arising from gender distinctions will be commented on.· Modifications of a theory in an attempt to overcome a difficulty need not be adhoc.
· Inevitably, the proposal is running into difficulties.· And with the theatre running into difficulties about subsidy it's not getting any more hopeful.· It was built successfully but two attempts to emulate and balance it soon ran into difficulties.· However, even by the end of the war, the design had run into serious difficulties.· They therefore do not run into this difficulty.· But delegates ran into difficulties in informal haggling over how to share the cuts.· But here we run up against the difficulty that this formulation appears to derive a prescriptive conclusion from two factual premisses.· If you do run into difficulties, there are two possibilities; neither of which is desirable. 1.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES► spare somebody the trouble/difficulty/pain etc (of doing something)
1[uncountable] if you have difficulty doing something, it is difficult for you to dohave/experience difficulty (in) doing something- Attractive as that proposition has seemed in recent years, the form in which it has been pursued is fraught with difficulties.
- For this whole business of killing, whether killing beasts or killing men, is supposed to be fraught with danger.
- He realized that what he was about to attempt was fraught with dangers, for Bernice and for himself.
- However, it is a move fraught with problems as our writers explain How long can it be taken as read?
- She had had a husband and lovers older than herself, and each affair had been fraught with problems.
- There are a number of tortured perspectives on how to get round this problem, but they are themselves fraught with problems.
- Thompson and Geir can agree, but their own deliverance was fraught with danger.
They had great difficulty in finding a replacement.with/without difficulty He got to his feet with difficulty. ► Do not say that someone ‘has difficulty to do something’. Say that someone has difficulty doing something or has difficulty in doing something.2[countable usually plural] a problem or something that causes troubledifficulty with There are several difficulties with this theory. If you have any difficulties, give me a call. The project soon ran into difficulties. Difficulties can arise when there is more than one defendant.3[uncountable] if you are in difficulty, you are in a situation in which you have problemsin difficulty The business is in financial difficulty.get/run into difficulty (=get into a difficult situation) She soon got into difficulty with debt.4[uncountable] the quality of being difficult to dothe difficulty of (doing) something the difficulty of solving such problems5[uncountable] how difficult something is: The tests vary in difficulty. → learning difficultiesCOLLOCATIONS– Meaning 2verbshave difficulties· By the age of eight, Robbie was having difficulties at school.run into/get into difficulties (=find yourself in a difficult situation)· Three people were rescued from a boat that had got into difficulties.experience/encounter difficulties formal (=have difficulties)· Graduates often experience considerable difficulties in getting their first job.face difficulties· The hotel’s owners were facing financial difficulties.overcome/resolve difficulties (=deal with them successfully)· We are confident that we can overcome these difficulties.present/pose difficulties formal (=be something that is difficult to deal with)· English spelling may present some difficulties for learners.be fraught with difficulties (=involve a lot of them)· The whole plan was fraught with difficulties.cause/lead to difficulties· Stress and worry both cause sleep difficulties.give rise to difficulties formal (=cause them)· The stormy weather gave rise to difficulties for many of the competitors in the yacht race.difficulties arise (=happen)· It’s best to discuss any difficulties that arise rather than trying to deal with them alone.adjectivesmajor/serious/severe difficulties· By then, we were having serious financial difficulties.considerable difficulties (=a lot of problems)· They had considerable difficulties in getting funding for their research.technical difficulties· The flight was delayed due to technical difficulties.practical difficulties (=problems with doing something)· It’s a great idea, but there will be a number of practical difficulties.financial/economic difficulties· The company is facing serious financial difficulties.breathing difficulties· She was taken to hospital with breathing difficulties.marital difficulties (=in a marriage)· You may need help in dealing with your marital difficulties.