different between difficulty vs clutch

English

Etymology

From Middle English difficultee, from Old French difficulté, from Latin difficultas, from difficul, older form of difficilis (“hard to do, difficult”), from dis- + facilis (“easy”); see difficile and difficult. Equivalent to dis- +? facile +? -ty. Also analysable as difficult +? -y, though the adjective is historically a backformation from the noun.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?d?f?k?lti/

Noun

difficulty (countable and uncountable, plural difficulties)

1. The state of being difficult, or hard to do.
2. An obstacle that hinders achievement of a goal.
3. (sometimes in the plural) Physical danger from the environment, especially with risk of drowning
   • 2012 August 2, "Children rescued after getting into difficulties in Donegal" BBC Online
   • 2016 March 30, Alan Thompson, "Diver taken to hospital after getting into difficulties at Stoney Cove diving centre" Leicester Mercury
   • 2016 February 24, Catherine Shanahan, "Boy, 13, drowns after getting into difficulty in river" Irish Examiner

     The three teenagers, a girl and two boys, were playing by the river when it is believed they got into difficulty.

   • 2016 March 14, "Kayaker rescued after getting into difficulty" Bournemouth Echo

     Members of the public had called 999 as they were concerned the kayaker was in difficulty around the headland race due to very strong spring tides and choppy seas with the kayaker making no headway.

   • 2016 March 19, Neil Shaw "Teens rescued from Dartmoor after getting into difficulty" Plymouth Herald

     A group of young people had to be rescued from Dartmoor on Friday night after getting into difficulty during a Duke of Edinburgh exercise. […] A 16-year-old girl required medical attention and a medic was winched down to the site by helicopter.

4. An objection.
5. That which cannot be easily understood or believed.
6. An awkward situation or quarrel.

Derived terms

• difficulty level
• with difficulty

Related terms

• difficile
• difficult

Translations

Further reading

• difficulty in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• difficulty in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kl?t??/
• Rhymes: -?t?

Etymology 1

From Middle English clucchen, clicchen, cluchen, clechen, cleken, from Old English cly??an (“to clutch, clench”), from Proto-Germanic *klukjan?, from Proto-Germanic *klu- (“to ball up, conglomerate, amass”), from Proto-Indo-European *glew- (“to ball up; lump, mass”).Cognate with Swedish klyka (“clamp, fork, branch”). The noun is from Middle English cleche, cloche, cloke ("claw, talon, hand"; compare Scots cleuk, cluke, cluik (“claw, talon”)), of uncertain origin, with the form probably assimilated to the verb.

Alternative etymology derives Old English cly??an from Proto-Germanic *kl?k- (“claw, hand”), from Proto-Indo-European *gl?k-, *?l??- (“claw, hand; to clutch, snatch”). If so, then cognate with Irish glac (“hand”).

Alternative forms

• cletch, clitch, cleach (dialectal)
• cleak, cleek, cleik, click (dialectal)
• clouch (obsolete)

Verb

clutch (third-person singular simple present clutches, present participle clutching, simple past and past participle clutched)

1. To seize, as though with claws. [from 14th c.]
   • a. 1700, Jeremy Collier, A Thought

     A man may set the poles together in his head, and clutch the whole globe at one intellectual grasp.
2. To grip or grasp tightly. [from 17th c.]

Synonyms

• (grip or grasp tightly): clasp, grasp, grip; See also Thesaurus:grasp

Translations

Noun

clutch (plural clutches)

1. The claw of a predatory animal or bird. [from 13th c.]
2. (by extension) A grip, especially one seen as rapacious or evil. [from 16th c.]

   • the clutch of poverty

   • 1676, Edward Stillingfleet, A defence of the discourse concerning the idolatry practised in the Church of Rome […]

     I must have […] little care of myself, if I ever more come near the clutches of such a giant.

   • 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, chapter 57

     You scold yourself; you know it is only your nerves—and yet, and yet... In a little while, it is impossible to resist the terror that seizes you, and you are helpless in the clutch of an unseen horror.

3. A device to interrupt power transmission, commonly used to separate the engine and gearbox in a car. [from 19th c.]
4. The pedal in a car that disengages power and torque transmission from the engine (through the drivetrain) to the drive wheels.
5. Any device for gripping an object, as at the end of a chain or tackle.
6. A small handbag or purse with no straps or handle.
   • 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 4

     The clutch which I had made to save myself in falling had torn away from this chin-band and let the lower jaw drop on the breast, but little else was disturbed, and there was Colonel John Mohune resting as he had been laid out a century ago.

Synonyms

• (small handbag): clutch bag

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

Variant form of cletch, from Middle English cleken (“to hatch”), perhaps from Old Norse klekja (“to hatch”).

Noun

clutch (plural clutches) (collective)

1. A brood of chickens or a sitting of eggs. [from 18th c.]
2. A group or bunch (of people or things). [from 20th c.]
   • 2012, The Economist, 22nd Sep., Innovation in Government: Britain's Local Labs

     No longer would Britons routinely blame the national government when things went wrong. Instead they would demand action from a new clutch of elected mayors, police commissioners and the like.

Derived terms

• clutch initiation
• subclutch

Translations

Verb

clutch (third-person singular simple present clutches, present participle clutching, simple past and past participle clutched)

1. (transitive) To hatch.

Etymology 3

Unknown; possibly analagous to clinch, pinch, which have similar senses.

Noun

clutch (plural clutches)

1. (US) An important or critical situation.

Translations

Adjective

clutch (comparative more clutch, superlative most clutch)

1. (US, Canada) Performing or tending to perform well in difficult, high-pressure situations.

Derived terms

• clutch artist
• clutch hitter

References

• clutch at OneLook Dictionary Search
• clutch in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• cultch

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

• kløtsj

Etymology

From English clutch

Noun

clutch m (definite singular clutchen, indefinite plural clutcher, definite plural clutchene)

1. a clutch (device between engine and gearbox)
2. clutch pedal

   trå in clutchen - step on the clutch

Synonyms

• kobling
• kopling

References

• “clutch” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• kløtsj

Etymology

From English clutch

Noun

clutch m (definite singular clutchen, indefinite plural clutchar, definite plural clutchane)

1. a clutch (device between engine and gearbox)
2. (short form of) clutch pedal (as in English)

Synonyms

• kopling

References

• “clutch” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?klot??/, [?klot??]

Noun

clutch m (plural clutches)

1. Alternative form of cloche