different between abstruse vs difficult
abstruse
English
Etymology
From French abstrus or its source, Latin abstr?sus (“hidden, concealed”), the perfect passive participle of abstr?d? (“conceal, to push away”), itself from ab, abs (“away”) + tr?d? (“thrust, push”). Cognate with German abstrus.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /?b?st?u?s/
- (General American) IPA(key): /æb?st?us/, /?b-/
- Rhymes: -u?s
- Hyphenation: ab?struse
Adjective
abstruse (comparative abstruser or more abstruse, superlative abstrusest or most abstruse)
- Difficult to comprehend or understand. [from late 16th c.]
- Synonyms: esoteric, obscure, recondite
- (obsolete) Concealed or hidden out of the way; secret. [from late 16th c. until mid 18th c.]
Usage notes
More abstruse and most abstruse are the preferred forms over abstruser and abstrusest.
Synonyms
- (concealed): clandestine, secret, surreptitious; See also Thesaurus:covert
- (difficult to comprehend): esoteric, obscure, recondite; See also Thesaurus:incomprehensible
Derived terms
- abstrusely
- abstruseness
Translations
References
Further reading
- abstruse in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- abstruse in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
Anagrams
- Staubers, Straubes, surbates, surbeats
French
Adjective
abstruse
- feminine singular of abstrus
Anagrams
- arbustes
German
Adjective
abstruse
- inflection of abstrus:
- strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
- strong nominative/accusative plural
- weak nominative all-gender singular
- weak accusative feminine/neuter singular
Latin
Participle
abstr?se
- vocative masculine singular of abstr?sus
References
- abstruse in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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difficult
English
Etymology
From Middle English difficult (ca. 1400), a back-formation from difficultee (whence modern difficulty), from Old French difficulté, from Latin difficultas, from difficul, older form of difficilis (“hard to do, difficult”), from dis- + facilis (“easy”); see difficile. Replaced native Middle English earveþ (“difficult, hard”), from Old English earfoþe (“difficult, laborious, full of hardship”), cognate to German Arbeit (“work”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /?d?f?k?lt/
Adjective
difficult (comparative difficulter or more difficult, superlative difficultest or most difficult)
- Hard, not easy, requiring much effort.
- However, the difficult weather conditions will ensure Yunnan has plenty of freshwater.
- There is not the strength or courage left me to venture into the wide, strange, difficult world, alone.
- (often of a person, or a horse, etc) Hard to manage, uncooperative, troublesome.
- (obsolete) Unable or unwilling.
Usage notes
Difficult implies that considerable mental effort or physical skill is required, or that obstacles are to be overcome which call for sagacity and skill in the doer; as, a difficult task. Thus, "hard" is not always synonymous with difficult. Examples include a difficult operation in surgery and a difficult passage by an author (that is, a passage which is hard to understand).
Synonyms
- burdensome, cumbersome, hard
- see also Thesaurus:difficult
Derived terms
- difficultly
Translations
Verb
difficult (third-person singular simple present difficults, present participle difficulting, simple past and past participle difficulted)
- (obsolete, transitive) To make difficult; to impede; to perplex.
- August 9 1678, William Temple, letter to Joseph Williamson
- their Excellencies having desisted from their pretensions , which had difficulted the peace
- August 9 1678, William Temple, letter to Joseph Williamson
Further reading
- difficult in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- difficult in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
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