something that causes or entails suffering; "I cannot think it a hardship that more indulgence is allowed to men than to women"- James Boswell; "the many hardships of frontier life"
full of love and generosity; "charitable to the poor"; "a charitable trust"
showing or motivated by sympathy and understanding and generosity; "was charitable in his opinions of others"; "kindly criticism"; "a kindly act"; "sympathetic words"; "a large-hearted mentor"
relating to or characterized by charity; "a charitable foundation"
facing or experiencing financial trouble or difficulty; "distressed companies need loans and technical advice"; "financially hard-pressed Mexican hotels are lowering their prices"; "we were hard put to meet the mortgage paymentng"; "it was apparent that the magazine was in trouble"; "found themselves in a bad way financially"
granting or inclined or able to grant permission; not strict in discipline; "direct primary legislation is largely permissive rather than prescriptive"; "permissive parents"
(Christianity) the abode of Satan and the forces of evil; where sinners suffer eternal punishment; "Hurl'd headlong...To bottomless perdition, there to dwell"- John Milton; "a demon from the depths of the pit"
a cause of difficulty and suffering; "war is hell"; "go to blazes"
any place of pain and turmoil; "the hell of battle"; "the inferno of the engine room"; "when you're alone Christmas is the pits";
the remission by the pope of the temporal punishment in purgatory that is still due for sins even after absolution; "in the Middle Ages the unrestricted sale of indulgences by pardoners became a widespread abuse"
the act of indulging or gratifying a desire
a disposition to yield to the wishes of someone; "too much indulgence spoils a child"
an inability to resist the gratification of whims and desires
causing or fraught with or showing anxiety; "spent an anxious night waiting for the test results"; "cast anxious glances behind her"; "those nervous moments before takeoff"; "an unquiet mind"
excessively conventional and unimaginative and hence dull; "why is the middle class so stodgy, so utterly without a sense of humor?"; "a stodgy dinner party"
heavy and starchy and hard to digest; "stodgy food"; "a stodgy pudding served up when everyone was already full"