Standard Lemma guide

hardship

noun · verb · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: /ˈhɑɹdˌʃɪp/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈhɑːdˌʃɪp/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: HH AA1 R D SH IH0 P Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Difficulty or trouble; hard times.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • He has survived periods of financial hardship before.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: distress, grief, anguish, rend, difficulty, hardship, pain, smart, torment, torture, trouble

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A burden, a source of difficulty that could impose a barrier.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • When you visit the museum, we invite you to make a donation of $10 if this will not be a hardship.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: distress, problem, sorrow, trouble, affliction, aggrievance, grief, grievance, hardship, misery, ruth, sadness, undelight, vexation, woe, wrong

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

To treat (a person) badly; to subject to hardships.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

something hard to endure

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the asperity of northern winters

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: asperity, grimness, rigor, rigour, severity, severeness, rigorousness, rigourousness

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: difficulty, difficultness

Narrower terms: sternness

5

noun

Meaning 5

something that causes or entails suffering- James Boswell

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • I cannot think it a hardship that more indulgence is allowed to men than to women
  • the many hardships of frontier life

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: misfortune, bad luck

6

noun

Meaning 6

a state of misfortune or affliction

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • debt-ridden farmers struggling with adversity
  • a life of hardship

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: adversity, hard knocks

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: misfortune, bad luck, tough luck, ill luck

Narrower terms: ill-being, catastrophe, disaster, extremity, distress, affliction, victimization, nadir, low-water mark

History

Etymology

From Middle English hardshipe, equivalent to hard + -ship.

Across languages

Translations

110 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: مَشَقَّة (mašaqqa) — difficulty or trouble
  • Arabic: شِدَّة (šidda) — difficulty or trouble
  • Belarusian: ця́жкасць (cjážkascʹ) — difficulty or trouble
  • Belarusian: няго́ды (njahódy) — difficulty or trouble
  • Bulgarian: строгост (strogost) — difficulty or trouble
  • Bulgarian: суровост (surovost) — difficulty or trouble
  • Bulgarian: трудност (trudnost) — difficulty or trouble
  • Bulgarian: затруднение (zatrudnenie) — difficulty or trouble
  • Carpathian Rusyn: чежкосц (čežkosc) — difficulty or trouble
  • Catalan: dificultats — difficulty or trouble
  • Chinese Mandarin: 困難 /困难 (kùnnan) — difficulty or trouble
  • Czech: těžkost — difficulty or trouble
  • Czech: obtíž — difficulty or trouble
  • Czech: svízel — difficulty or trouble
  • Dutch: ellende — difficulty or trouble
  • Dutch: ondraaglijkheid — difficulty or trouble
  • Faroese: trupulleiki — difficulty or trouble
  • Faroese: viðurmøði — difficulty or trouble
  • Faroese: trongd — difficulty or trouble
  • Faroese: roynsla — difficulty or trouble
  • Finnish: vaikeus — difficulty or trouble
  • Finnish: vastoinkäyminen — difficulty or trouble
  • Finnish: vaiva — difficulty or trouble
  • French: difficultés — difficulty or trouble
  • French: misère — difficulty or trouble
  • French: épreuve — difficulty or trouble
  • Galician: traballos — difficulty or trouble
  • Galician: dificultade — difficulty or trouble
  • Galician: apuro — difficulty or trouble
  • Georgian: სირთულეები (sirtuleebi) — difficulty or trouble
  • German: Härte — difficulty or trouble
  • German: Not — difficulty or trouble
  • German: Entbehrung — difficulty or trouble
  • German: Mühsal — difficulty or trouble
  • German: Elend — difficulty or trouble
  • German: Beschwernis — difficulty or trouble
  • Ancient Greek: μόχθος (mókhthos) — difficulty or trouble
  • Hindi: कष्ट (kaṣṭ) — difficulty or trouble
  • Hindi: मशक्कत (maśakkat) — difficulty or trouble
  • Hindi: सख्ती (sakhtī) — difficulty or trouble
  • Icelandic: þrengingar — difficulty or trouble
  • Ido: privaco — difficulty or trouble
  • Ido: sufro — difficulty or trouble
  • Ilocano: rigat — difficulty or trouble
  • Irish: anró — difficulty or trouble
  • Italian: avversità — difficulty or trouble
  • Italian: difficoltà — difficulty or trouble
  • Italian: stento — difficulty or trouble
  • Jamaican Creole: sufferation — difficulty or trouble
  • Japanese: 苦難 (kunan) — difficulty or trouble
  • Japanese: 苦しみ (kurushimi) — difficulty or trouble
  • Japanese: 難儀 (nangi) — difficulty or trouble
  • Korean: 어려움 (eoryeoum) — difficulty or trouble
  • Korean: 고난 (gonan) — difficulty or trouble
  • Central Kurdish: ئەرک (erk) — difficulty or trouble
  • Latin: aerumna — difficulty or trouble
  • Latin: difficultās — difficulty or trouble
  • Māori: uauatanga — difficulty or trouble
  • Māori: whakapāwera — difficulty or trouble
  • Marathi: हालअपेष्टा (hālapeṣṭā) — difficulty or trouble
  • Middle English: anoy — difficulty or trouble
  • Middle English: noy — difficulty or trouble
  • Mongolian: гачигдал (gačigdal) — difficulty or trouble
  • Mongolian: зовлон зүдүүр (zovlon züdüür) — difficulty or trouble
  • Norwegian: motgang — difficulty or trouble
  • Norwegian: lidelse — difficulty or trouble
  • Old English: earfeþe — difficulty or trouble
  • Persian: مشقت (mašaqqat) — difficulty or trouble
  • Persian: سختی (saxti) — difficulty or trouble
  • Piedmontese: stent — difficulty or trouble
  • Plautdietsch: Schwierichkjeit — difficulty or trouble
  • Polish: trudność — difficulty or trouble
  • Portuguese: dificuldade — difficulty or trouble
  • Portuguese: apuro — difficulty or trouble
  • Romanian: greutate — difficulty or trouble
  • Romanian: dificultate — difficulty or trouble
  • Romanian: adversitate — difficulty or trouble
  • Russian: невзго́ды (nevzgódy) — difficulty or trouble
  • Russian: суро́вость (suróvostʹ) — difficulty or trouble
  • Russian: тя́готы (tjágoty) — difficulty or trouble
  • Russian: тру́дность (trúdnostʹ) — difficulty or trouble
  • Russian: затрудне́ние (zatrudnénije) — difficulty or trouble
  • Scottish Gaelic: èiginn — difficulty or trouble
  • Slovene: težava — difficulty or trouble
  • Slovene: stiska — difficulty or trouble
  • Spanish: sufrimiento — difficulty or trouble
  • Spanish: apuro — difficulty or trouble
  • Spanish: penalidad — difficulty or trouble
  • Spanish: penuria — difficulty or trouble
  • Spanish: adversidad — difficulty or trouble
  • Spanish: tribulación — difficulty or trouble
  • Sranan Tongo: hebi — difficulty or trouble
  • Sranan Tongo: pina — difficulty or trouble
  • Swedish: svårighet — difficulty or trouble
  • Swedish: vedermöda — difficulty or trouble
  • Swedish: motgång — difficulty or trouble
  • Old Swedish: motganger — difficulty or trouble
  • Old Swedish: moteganger — difficulty or trouble
  • Old Swedish: vidhermødha — difficulty or trouble
  • Tashelhit: tanakmut — difficulty or trouble
  • Telugu: ఇబ్బంది (ibbandi) — difficulty or trouble
  • Telugu: కష్టం (kaṣṭaṁ) — difficulty or trouble
  • Telugu: ఇడుము (iḍumu) — difficulty or trouble
  • Turkish: zorluk — difficulty or trouble
  • Ottoman Turkish: شدت (şiddet) — difficulty or trouble
  • Ukrainian: тру́дність (trúdnistʹ) — difficulty or trouble
  • Ukrainian: тру́днощі (trúdnošči) — difficulty or trouble
  • Ukrainian: тя́готи (tjáhoty) — difficulty or trouble
  • Welsh: caledi — difficulty or trouble
  • Welsh: cyni — difficulty or trouble