The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms - difficultyn.

1) strain, hardship, arduousness, laboriousness, formidableness, tribulation, painfulness: Despite much difficulty she succeeded. 2) hardship, obstacle, problem, distress, pitfall, dilemma, predicament, problem, snag, hindrance; Gordian knot: He has encountered difficulties during his career. 3) Often, difficulties. embarrassment, plight, predicament, mess, strait(s) , trouble, scrape, Colloq hot water, jam, pickle, fix; hot potato: She always seems to be in financial difficulties.