Emily Dickinson Lexicon

DIF'FI-CUL-TY, n. [Fr. difficulté; It. difficultà; Sp. dificultad; L. difficultas.]

1. Hardness to be done or accomplished; the state of any thing which renders its performance laborious or perplexing; opposed to easiness of facility; as, the difficulty of a task or enterprise; a work of labor and difficulty.
2. That which is hard to be performed or surmounted. We often mistake difficulties for impossibilities. To overcome difficulties is an evidence of a great mind.
3. Perplexity; embarrassment of affairs; trouble; whatever renders progress or execution of designs laborious. We lie under many difficulties, by reason of bad markets, or a low state of trade.
4. Objection; obstacle to belief; that which can not be easily understood, explained or believed. Men often raise difficulties concerning miracles and mysteries in religion, which candid research will remove.
5. In a popular sense, bodily complaints; indisposition.