different between difficulty vs jam

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

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /?d?æm/
• (Southern England, Australia) IPA^(key): /?d?æ?m/
• - fruit spread
• - verb
• Rhymes: -æm
• Homophone: jamb

Etymology 1

First attested in the early 18th c. as a verb meaning “to press, be pressed, be wedged in”. Eventually onomatopoeic, perhaps identical with Middle English cham (“to bite, to gnash one's teeth”), whence modern champ.

Noun

jam (countable and uncountable, plural jams)

1. A sweet mixture of fruit boiled with sugar and allowed to congeal. Often spread on bread or toast or used in jam tarts.

   Synonyms: (US) conserve, jelly, preserve

2. (countable) A difficult situation.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:difficult situation
3. (countable) Blockage, congestion.

4. (countable, popular music) An informal, impromptu performance or rehearsal.
5. (countable, by extension, informal) A song; a track.
   • 2001, Jet (volume 100, number 22, page 25)

     The result is an outstanding assortment of sophisticated, sexy and hip-hop-tinged R&B grooves, ballads and party jams.

6. (countable, by extension) An informal event where people brainstorm and collaborate on projects.

7. (uncountable, slang) That which one particularly prefers, desires, enjoys, or cares about.

8. (countable, baseball) A difficult situation for a pitcher or defending team.

9. (countable, basketball) A forceful dunk.
10. (countable, roller derby) A play during which points can be scored.

11. (climbing, countable) Any of several maneuvers requiring wedging of an extremity into a tight space.

12. (Britain, slang) luck.

13. (slang) sexual relations or the contemplation of them.

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Czech: džem
• ? Japanese: ??? (jamu)
• ? Korean: ? (jaem)
• ? Russian: ???? (džem)
• ? Serbo-Croatian: dž?m, ????
• ? Slovak: džem

Translations

See also

• jelly
• marmalade

Verb

jam (third-person singular simple present jams, present participle jamming, simple past and past participle jammed)

1. To get something stuck, often (though not necessarily) in a confined space.
   • 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, London: W. Taylor, 3rd edition, 1719, p. 226,^[1]

     The Ship, which by its Building was Spanish, stuck fast, jaum’d in between two Rocks; all the Stern and Quarter of her was beaten to Pieces with the Sea […]

2. To brusquely force something into a space; cram, squeeze.
   • 1779, George Colman, Farewell Epilogue, spoken at Wynnstay after the representation of Cymbeline and The Spanish Barber, 22 January, 1779, in Prose on Several Occasions: Accompanied with Some Pieces in Verse, London: T. Cadel, 1787, Volume 3, p. 283,^[2]

     Since the new post-horse tax, I dare engage

     That some folks here have travell’d in the Stage:

     Jamm’d in at midnight, in cold winter weather,

     The crouded passengers are glew’d together.

3. To cause congestion or blockage. Often used with "up"

4. To block or confuse a broadcast signal.
5. (baseball) To throw a pitch at or near the batter's hands.

6. (music) To play music (especially improvisation as a group, or an informal unrehearsed session).
7. To injure a finger or toe by sudden compression of the digit's tip.

8. (roller derby) To attempt to score points.

9. (nautical, transitive) To bring (a vessel) so close to the wind that half her upper sails are laid aback.
   • 1887, William Clark Russell, The Golden Hope

     It won't do to jam her,” answered Stone ;" but it might be worth findin' out if th' Hope won't lie closer than t' other can." Half a point ----"

10. (Canada, informal) To give up on a date or some joint endeavour; stand up, chicken out, jam out.

Synonyms

• ram

Derived terms

• (to squeeze into a small space): jam-pack
• jammer
• jam band
• jam session

Translations

Etymology 2

Persian or Hindi, meaning "garment, robe;" see ????? (“garment”). Related to pajamas.

Noun

jam (plural jams)

1. (dated) A kind of frock for children.

Etymology 3

Noun

jam (plural jams)

1. (mining) Alternative form of jamb

References

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

Anagrams

• JMA, Maj, Maj., maj.

Albanian

Etymology

From Proto-Albanian *esmi, from Proto-Indo-European *h?ésmi (“I am, I exist”), identical with Ancient Greek ???? (eimí), Sanskrit ????? (ásmi), English am. Aorist qeshë from Proto-Indo-European *k?el- (“to turn, revolve”), with a semantic development similar to Germanic *werdan (“to become”), from Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to turn”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jam/

Verb

jam (first-person singular past tense qeshë, participle qenë)

1. to be

Conjugation

References

Czech

Etymology

From Portuguese inhame or Spanish iñame, both likely of West African origin.

Noun

jam m

1. yam (any Dioscorea vine)

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English jam.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??m/
• Hyphenation: jam
• Rhymes: -?m

Noun

jam m (plural jams, diminutive jammetje n)

1. (chiefly Netherlands) jam (congealed sweet mixture of conserved fruits)

Synonyms

• confituur
• marmelade

Derived terms

• aardbeienjam
• jampot
• kersenjam

Esperanto

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin iam.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jam/
• Hyphenation: jam
• Audio:

Adverb

jam

1. already

Garo

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

jam

1. granary, storehouse

Highland Popoluca

Noun

jam

1. lime

References

• Elson, Benjamin F.; Gutiérrez G., Donaciano (1999) Diccionario popoluca de la Sierra, Veracruz (Serie de vocabularios y diccionarios indígenas “Mariano Silva y Aceves”; 41)?^[3] (in Spanish), Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, A.C., ?ISBN, page 74

Indonesian

Etymology

From Malay jam, from Sanskrit ??? (y?ma, “time”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?d??am]
• Hyphenation: jam

Noun

jam (first-person possessive jamku, second-person possessive jammu, third-person possessive jamnya)

1. hour (Time period of sixty minutes)
2. clock (instrument to measure or keep track of time)
3. (colloquial) time, particular moment or hour; the appropriate moment or hour for something

   Synonyms: pukul, saat, waktu

Further reading

• “jam” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI) Daring, Jakarta: Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa, Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia, 2016.

Interlingua

Adverb

jam (not comparable)

1. already

Javanese

Etymology

Ultimately from Sanskrit ??? (y?ma)

Noun

jam

1. clock

Latgalian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?jam/
• Hyphenation: jam

Pronoun

jam

1. dative singular of jis

References

• Nicole Nau (2011) A short grammar of Latgalian, München: LINCOM GmbH, ?ISBN, page 37

Latin

Adverb

jam (not comparable)

1. Alternative form of iam

References

• jam in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Lindu

Noun

jam

1. time
2. hour
3. clock

Lithuanian

Pronoun

jam m

1. (third-person singular) dative form of jis.
   • 2007, Jurga (Jurga Šeduikyt?), Angelai

     Jo balti sparnai man tinka

     Jam savo šarvus dovanoju

     His white wings suit me

     I present to him my armor

Malay

Etymology

From Sanskrit ??? (y?ma, “time”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [d??am]
• Rhymes: -d??am, -am

Noun

jam (Jawi spelling ???, plural jam-jam, informal 1st possessive jamku, impolite 2nd possessive jammu, 3rd possessive jamnya)

1. hour (Time period of sixty minutes)
2. clock (instrument to measure or keep track of time)

Further reading

• “jam” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

North Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian j?. Cognate with West Frisian jimme

Pronoun

jam

1. you (plural)
2. your (plural)

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jam/

Noun

jam f

1. genitive plural of jama

Pronoun

jam

1. (informal, sometimes proscribed) Combined form of ja +? -m (first person singular pronoun + verb suffix).

Further reading

• jam in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Slovene

Noun

jam

1. genitive dual/plural of jama

Swedish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /j??m/

Noun

jam n

1. meow (sound of a cat)

Declension

Related terms

• jama

Anagrams

• Maj, maj

Welsh

Etymology

From English jam.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??am/

Noun

jam m (plural jamiau, not mutable)

1. jam

   Synonym: cyffaith

Further reading

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present) , “jam”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

West Frisian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

jam c (plural jams)

1. jam, fruit preserves

Alternative forms

• sjem

Further reading

• “jam (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011