Part 272

4. (Metaph.) The supposed act or tendency in being of every kind, whether organic or inorganic, to assume or produce a more complex structure or functions.

Dif`fer*en"ti*a`tor (?), n. One who, or that which, differentiates.

Dif"fer*ent*ly (?), adv. In a different manner; variously.

Dif"fer*ing*ly, adv. In a differing or different manner. Boyle.

Dif"fi*cile (?), a. [L. difficilis: cf. F. difficile. See Difficult.] Difficult; hard to manage; stubborn. [Obs.] -- Dif"fi*cile*ness, n. [Obs.] Bacon.

Dif`fi*cil"i*tate (?), v. t. To make difficult. [Obs.] W. Montagu.

Dif"fi*cult (?), a. [From Difficulty.] 1. Hard to do or to make; beset with difficulty; attended with labor, trouble, or pains; not easy; arduous.

Difficult implies the notion that considerable mental effort or skill is required, or that obstacles are to be overcome which call for sagacity and skill in the agent; as, a difficult task; hard work is not always difficult work; a difficult operation in surgery; a difficult passage in an author.

There is not the strength or courage left me to venture into the wide, strange, and difficult world, alone.

Hawthorne.

2. Hard to manage or to please; not easily wrought upon; austere; stubborn; as, a difficult person.

Syn. -- Arduous; painful; crabbed; perplexed; laborious; unaccommodating; troublesome. See Arduous.

Dif"fi*cult, v. t. To render difficult; to impede; to perplex. [R.] Sir W. Temple.

Dif"fi*cult*ate (?), v. t. To render difficult; to difficilitate. [Obs.] Cotgrave.

Dif"fi*cult*ly, adv. With difficulty. Cowper.

Dif"fi*cult*ness, n. Difficulty. [R.] Golding.

Dif"fi*cul*ty (?), n.; pl. Difficulties (#). [L. difficultas, fr. difficilis difficult; dif- = dis- + facilis easy: cf. F. difficulté. See Facile.] 1. The state of being difficult, or hard to do; hardness; arduousness; -- opposed to easiness or facility; as, the difficulty of a task or enterprise; a work of difficulty.

Not being able to promote them [the interests of life] on account of the difficulty of the region.

James Byrne.

2. Something difficult; a thing hard to do or to understand; that which occasions labor or perplexity, and requires skill and perseverance to overcome, solve, or achieve; a hard enterprise; an obstacle; an impediment; as, the difficulties of a science; difficulties in theology.

They lie under some difficulties by reason of the emperor's displeasure.

Addison.

3. A controversy; a falling out; a disagreement; an objection; a cavil.

Measures for terminating all local difficulties.

Bancroft.

4. Embarrassment of affairs, especially financial affairs; -- usually in the plural; as, to be in difficulties.

In days of difficulty and pressure.

Tennyson.