different between unfavourable vs difficult

English

Etymology

From un- +? favourable.

Adjective

unfavourable (comparative more unfavourable, superlative most unfavourable) (British spelling)

1. Serving to hinder or oppose; adverse, disadvantageous, inconducive, unsuitable.

   Antonym: favourable

   • 1863, Henry David Thoreau, chapter 6, Excursions:

     The shade of a dense pine wood, is more unfavorable to the springing up of pines of the same species than of oaks within it.

2. Not auspicious; ill-boding.

   Synonyms: inauspicious, unfortunate; see also Thesaurus:unlucky

   Antonyms: favourable, fortunate; see also Thesaurus:lucky

   • 1903, Anna Katharine Green, The Filigree Ball, ch. 6:

     The fact that the bride went through the ceremony without her bridal bouquet is looked upon by many as an unfavorable omen.

3. Of a belief, state of mind, etc.: not favourable; disapproving.

   Synonym: favourable
4. Of wind or weather: causing delay or obstacles; not conducive to travel or work; inclement.
   • 1855, Herman Melville, chapter 17, Israel Potter:

     The wind was right under the land, the tide unfavorable.

Usage notes

Nouns to which unfavourable is often applied: condition, circumstance, weather, climate, outcome, result, opinion, view, impression, effect, consequence, impact, influence, environment, balance, information, report, prognosis, rating, evaluation, review, position, factor, feature, aspect, reaction, response, attitude, season, development, treatment, ruling, case, state, experience, inference.

Alternative forms

• unfavorable (American spelling)

Derived terms

• unfavourability
• unfavourableness
• unfavourably

Translations

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)

1. 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.
2. (often of a person, or a horse, etc) Hard to manage, uncooperative, troublesome.

3. (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)

1. (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

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.