the quality of being difficult; "they agreed about the difficulty of the climb"
a factor causing trouble in achieving a positive result or tending to produce a negative result; "serious difficulties were encountered in obtaining a pure reagent"
a condition or state of affairs almost beyond one's ability to deal with and requiring great effort to bear or overcome; "grappling with financial difficulties"
prevent the progress or free movement of; "He was hampered in his efforts by the bad weather"; "the imperialist nation wanted to strangle the free trade between the two small countries"