The word difficulty comes from the Latin term difficultas. The concept refers to the problem, gap or predicament that arises when a person tries to achieve something. Difficulties, therefore, are inconveniences or barriers that must be overcome to achieve a certain objective.
For example: «I don’t know how to tell the employees that we have a serious difficulty paying this month’s salaries», «The main difficulty we had in the race was a tire burst in the first part of the journey», «The drought is a difficulty that, one way or another, we will have to overcome».
It can be said that difficulty is the quality of difficult (something that cannot be understood, executed or achieved without effort). In this sense, it is possible to find expressions such as “This exam presents a very high degree of difficulty” or “We will not have too much difficulty to achieve victory”.
A difficulty can be a challenge or a problem.
Learning difficulties
The notion of difficulty can be applied to various ideas or situations. Learning difficulties are those suffered by certain students who, despite not suffering from a disability or not having an intelligence that is inferior to that of their peers, fail to achieve good academic performance. Dysgraphia, on the other hand, is a difficulty in writing correctly, while dyslexia is a difficulty that appears when reading.
Likewise, we cannot ignore other types of learning difficulties such as dyscalculia, which is the one that occurs in the area of mathematical skills and causes those who suffer from it to have serious problems in doing calculations or counting numbers.
And that without forgetting the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (AD / HD) that means that those who suffer from it have a serious difficulty when it comes to being able to concentrate. This translates, among other things, into impulsiveness, in the fact that he is distracted by anything or that the person in question cannot sit still.
When a difficulty appears, people must strive to overcome it.
Respiratory problems
In the same way, in the medical or health field it is also common to talk about what is called respiratory distress. Specifically, it is a condition that manifests itself in the feeling of difficulty when taking in air or in the feeling that not enough air is coming. A lung disease, a heart disease, anxiety or the fact that there has been an obstruction in the nose, throat or mouth are some of the causes that can cause someone to be suffering from this type of condition.
If this difficulty appears suddenly or if it is accompanied by a varied and extensive series of symptoms (fever, chest pain, wheezing, throat tightness, shortness of breath…) it is recommended first of all to go directly to a center hospital and a health professional as it will be the best way to really know what is happening to the person who is suffering from it.
The difficulty vs. the simplicity
The opposite of difficult is simple. Simplicity, therefore, is an antonym for difficulty.
«This task can be carried out easily» / «This task can be carried out without difficulty» are expressions that show us this opposition.
