different between strait vs difficulty

English

Alternative forms

• streight (obsolete)
• streit (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English streit, from Old French estreit (modern form étroit), from Latin strictus, perfect passive participle of string? (“compress, tighten”). Doublet of stretto and strict.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /st?e?t/
• Rhymes: -e?t
• Homophone: straight

Adjective

strait (comparative straiter, superlative straitest)

1. (archaic) Narrow; restricted as to space or room; close.
   • 1866, Algernon Swinburne, “Aholibah” in Poems and Ballads, London: John Camden Hotten, p. 311,^[1]

     Sweet oil was poured out on thy head

     And ran down like cool rain between

     The strait close locks it melted in.

   • 1894, Ernest Dowson, “To One in Bedlam” in The Second Book of The Rhymers’ Club, London: Elkin Mathews & John Lane, p. 35,^[3]

     Those scentless wisps of straw, that miserably line

     His strait, caged universe, whereat the dull world stares,

     Pedant and pitiful.

2. (archaic) Righteous, strict.
3. (obsolete) Tight; close; tight-fitting.
4. (obsolete) Close; intimate; near; familiar.
5. (obsolete) Difficult; distressful.
   • 18th c., Thomas Secker, Sermons on Several Subjects, 2nd edition, 1771, Volume III, Sermon XI, p. 253,^[4]

     But to make your strait Circumstances yet straiter, for the Sake of idle Gratifications, and distress yourselves in Necessaries, only to indulge in Trifles and Vanities, delicate Food, shewish Dress, ensnaring Diversions, is every Way wrong.

6. (obsolete) Parsimonious; stingy; mean.

Translations

Usage notes

The adjective is often confused with straight.

Derived terms

• straitjacket
• strait-laced

Noun

strait (plural straits)

1. (geography) A narrow channel of water connecting two larger bodies of water.
2. A narrow pass, passage or street.
3. A neck of land; an isthmus.
4. (often in the plural) A difficult position.
   • 1684, Robert South, “A Sermon Preached at Westminster-Abbey” in Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, London: Thomas Bennett, 1692, p. 420,^[5]

     […] let no man, who owns the Belief of a Providence, grow desperate or forlorn, under any Calamity or Strait whatsoever […]

Derived terms

• dire straits
• Menai Strait

Translations

Verb

strait (third-person singular simple present straits, present participle straiting, simple past and past participle straited)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To confine; put to difficulties.
   • 1577, Raphael Holinshed et al., Holinshed’s Chronicles, London: 1577, Volume 1, The Historie of Englande, p. 3,^[6]

     After Bardus, the Celtes […] were in short tyme, and with small labour broughte vnder the subiection of the Giaunt Albion, the sonne of Neptune, who altering the state of things here in this yland, straited the name of Celtica and the Celtes within the boundes of Gallia […]

   • 1658, William Sanderson, A Compleat History of the Life and Raigne of King Charles, London: Humphrey Moseley et al., p. 885,^[7]

     The King, Duke of York, Prince Rupert and Maurice are still at Oxford closely surrounded by the Parliaments Forces, and the other not well resolving what course to take, all their Horse being about Faringdon, in expectation of the Lord Ashley with his Foot to joyn in a Body, if they be not prevented by Colonel Fleetwood and Rainsborough, straiting and allarming Oxford very often […]

2. (obsolete, transitive) To tighten.

Adverb

strait (comparative straiter, superlative straitest)

1. (obsolete) Strictly; rigorously.

Further reading

• strait on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Rattis, artist, atrist, ittars, star it, strati, traits

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.