| bur | [prickly, clinging seedpod] thing difficult to shake off |
| bur | clinger, person difficult to shake off |
| curious | particular, difficult to satisfy, hard to please |
| dear | direly, grievously, with difficulty |
| distress | hardship, adversity, difficulty |
| distressed | afflicted with hardships, troubled with difficulties |
| doubt | question, difficulty, hesitation [over] |
| Gordian knot | apparently unsolvable problem, extreme difficulty |
| hard | difficult, not easy [to obtain] |
| hard | with difficulty, not easily |
| hardly | with great difficulty, only with difficulty |
| hardness | difficulty of understanding |
| hard-ruled | difficult to manage, obstreperous |
| heavy | difficult, hard, laborious |
| little-seeming | [difficult meaning] of no account; or: who refuses to acknowledge appearances |
| much | hard, difficult |
| obstruction | obstacle, difficulty, hindrance |
| oppression | misfortune, distress, difficulty |
| overparted | unequal to the part, having too difficult a part to play |
| pinch | cause trouble, bring into difficulties |
| rough | difficult to manage, not thoroughly trained |
| scarce | with difficulty, hardly possible |
| scruple | objection, difficulty, doubt |
| shrewd | shrewish, bad-tempered, difficult |
| slippery | faithless, unchaste, difficult to hold on to |
| steepy | steep, precipitous, difficult to ascend |
| strain | have difficulty in accepting, have a problem with |
| stubborn | difficult, demanding, exacting |
| uneasy | not easy, hard, difficult |
| uneath | with difficulty, not easily, hardly |
| untoward | stubborn, difficult, perverse |