mindmap root((艰难)) difficulty can apply to any condition, situation, experience, or task which presents a problem hard to solve or seemingly beyond one's ability to suffer or surmount: they were determined to succeed, they met and solved each ~ as it arose. hardship stresses extreme suffering, toil, or privation but does not necessarily imply either effort to overcome or patience in enduring: faced many ~s that long, hard winter. rigor suggests a hardship necessarily imposed upon one by, for example, an austere religion, a trying climate, or an exacting undertaking: endured the ~s of a rite of initiation. vicissitude applies to an inevitable difficulty or hardship that occurs in connection with life or a way of life, a career, or a course of action: the ~s of life left them tired, bitter, and alone.