diffident

554

causes problems 0 *§ ; 2tM; ^ ; 0 ft : the difficulties of English syntax      o children

with severe learning difficulties 7^±W/ffi1t0)itl$;^7 o We’ve run into difficulties/difficulty with the new project. !$fll&&^§rI#7iS$]7^gSo o He got into difficulties while swimming and had to be rescued.

K»$Affo o The bank is in difficulty/ difficulties.  o It was a time fraught

with difficulties and frustration. j&JI — 7  0 $£ fn ££

#r$!Rt$3o 2 [U] the state or quality of being hard to do or to understand; the effort that sth involves xt; 0 $t; St]; 7 ^ : I had considerable difficulty (in) persuading her to leave.

0                  I had no difficulty (in) making myself understood, fy M. 7^77 S BWIIo 0 The changes were made with surprisingly little difficulty.        J17'& WiSS'J

, ft]]|L7 RlJSliSCo o He spoke slowly and with great difficulty,  it ift flMII ft, ®1:fS Aj 0 0 We found the

house without difficulty.    7&#t#

7 o 0 They discussed the difficulty of studying abroad. ftfe f] it   7 S>J S Ah 7 ^ W 0 A c        You cannot say

‘have difficulty to do sth’: - I-had-diffkuky to persuade her to leave. 7tt!ift have difficulty to do sth 0 7# I had difficulty to persuade her to leave. 3 [U] how hard sth is 0 5® © k; i St: varying levels of difficulty 7 |WJ W 3® & 0 questions of increasing difficulty dif fi dent /’drfidant/ ad/. ~ (about sth) not having much confidence in yourself; not wanting to talk about your­self IS* £ aft ft; Jilted; JtfAW 333 shy ; a diffi­dent manner/smile o He

was modest and diffident about his own success. j&fflil M,         i        ► diffidence /-dans/ noun

[U]: She overcame her natural diffidence and spoke with great frankness. iM7Ifefid€i, f #i0«iiM7 g EL       diffident-ly adv.

SYNONYMS mSL

difficult

hard ♦challenging * demanding♦taxing♦testing

These words all describe sth that is not easy and requires a lot of effort or skill to do.

mmm. >*„

difficult not easy; needing effort or skill to do or understand £t02t&7   nt«W: The

exam questions were quite difficult. 7 IS 71    o It is

difficult for young people to find jobs around here. 733

hard not easy; needing effort or skill to do or understand *§0*118,        U8H&M7

I                  always found languages quite hard at school.

o It was one of the hardest

things I ever did.

DIFFICULT OR HARD? difficult hard ?

Hard is slightly less formal than difficult. It is used particularly in the structure hard to believe/say/find/take, etc., although difficult can also be used in any of these examples. * hard & difficult     hard to

believe/say/find/take #    7, 7At difficult WWf 0 7

challenging (approving) difficult in an interesting way that tests your ability       WMAfeii

demanding difficult to do or deal with and needing a lot of effort, skill or patience

: It is a technically demanding piece

of music to play.

taxing (often used in negative statements) difficult to do and needing a lot of mental or physical effort ( #

JB7«J£^ > mm, ffiMtStil: This

shouldn’t be too taxing for you. iA)^ft'7‘i.&7M7Ac

m*

diffract /di'fraekt/ verb [VN] {physics tyf) to break up a stream of light into a series of dark and light bands or into the different colours of the spectrum (       )

► dif-frac-tion /di'fraekjn/ noun [U] diffuse adj., verb

m adj. /di'fjuis/ 1 spread over a wide area 3ft H (ft; |TE ; IS If W: diffuse light HIAAE 0 a diffuse community )ii ft 7 E (ft At 1$ 2 not clear or easy to understand; using a lot of words 7JSJIW;

(ft : a diffuse style of writing (ft At ft ► diffuse-ly adv. dif-fuse-ness noun [U]

a verb /di'fjuiz/ 1 (formal) to spread sth or become spread widely in all directions ftt#; WRi ftftE; E7: [VN] The problem is how to diffuse power without creating anarchy.

0 [V] Technologies diffuse rapidly, ft 7 # R 7 E 'ft »

1                  [V, VN] (technical 7in) if a gas or liquid diffuses or is diffused in a substance, it becomes slowly mixed with that substance ( ftftftit^ft ) ft ft, 3ftH, 3 [VN] (formal) to make light shine less brightly by spreading it in many directions ( ft it ) H UB, IS li, HE: The moon was fuller than the night before, but the light was diffused by cloud.

MAi jjbMM* ► diffusion /di'fju:3n/ noun [U] diffu •ser /dTfjuiza(r)/ noun 1 a device used in photog­raphy to avoid dark shadows or areas which are too bright (     ) HIAft,     2 a part that is

attached to a hairdryer to spread the hot air around the head and dry the hair more gently ( nftJxUJlfft ) E

M«Jt

dig »n /dig/ verb, noun

» verb (dig-ging, dug, dug /dAg/) 1 ~ (for sth) to make a hole in the ground or to move soil from one place to another using your hands, a tool or a machine H (Jfe);SM!PI);J2(±): tv] to dig for coal/gold/ Roman remains      o

They dug deeper and deeper but still found nothing. ffefH

testing difficult to deal with and needing particular

strength or abilities

It was a testing time for us all.  iAIi—

DEMANDING, TAXING OR TESTING? demanding, taxing aS testing ?

Demanding is the strongest of these words and describes tasks and experiences. It is often used with more or most or an adverb that says in what way the activity is difficult. Taxing is used particularly in negative statements and to talk about problems or tasks that need (or do not need) mental effort. Testing describes experiences but not tasks and is used particularly with time, week or year. * demanding

#7 more, most gg

taxing ±^07^

7, «/7»l®W«tt^ testing 7^7 time, week ^ year

PATTERNS AND COLLOCATIONS

II                 difficult/hard/challenging/demanding/taxing/testing for sb

III               difficult/hard to do sth

IV                a difficult/hard/challenging/demanding/taxing/testing time/week/year

V                  to be/become/get/find sth difficult/hard/challenging/ demand ing/taxing/testing

VI                very/extremely/really/rather/quite difficult/hard/ challenging/demanding/taxing/testing

VII               physically difficult/hard/challenging/demanding/ taxing

«technically difficult/challenging/demanding

*                  mentally/intellectually challenging/demanding/ taxing

academically challenging/demanding