Definition

1. Noun:
   • A condition of severe suffering, deprivation, or difficulty: "Hardship" refers to a state of experiencing something very hard or painful, often involving a lack of basic necessities or comfort.
   • A specific cause of suffering or difficulty: "Hardship" can also refer to a particular event, circumstance, or experience that is very difficult to endure.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:
  • The early settlers faced immense hardship during the long winter.
  • Losing his job was a great financial hardship for his family.
  • She endured many hardships on her journey to safety.

Advanced Usage

• "To suffer hardship": to experience severe difficulty or suffering.
  • The refugees have suffered great hardship.
• "To impose a hardship": to cause a difficult condition for someone.
  • The new tax law could impose a significant hardship on low-income families.
• "Undue hardship": an excessive level of difficulty, often used in legal or formal contexts regarding accommodations.
  • The company argued that providing the equipment would cause an undue hardship.

Variants and Related Words

• Hard (adj): solid, firm, difficult.
  • It was a hard decision to make.
• Harden (verb): to make or become hard or tougher.
  • The experience hardened his resolve.

Synonyms

• Adversity: a difficult or unlucky situation or event.
• Privation: a state in which things essential for human well-being (like food, warmth) are lacking.
• Difficulty: the state or condition of being hard to do, deal with, or understand.

Related Phrases

• Hardship allowance/pay: extra money given to someone working in difficult conditions.
  • Diplomats posted to that region receive a hardship allowance.
• Hardship case: a person or situation considered to be suffering particular difficulties, often deserving special help.
  • The charity focuses on helping hardship cases in the community.

Related Idioms

• Through thick and thin (and hardship): through both good and bad times, including periods of great difficulty. (Note: "hardship" is implied within the idiom's meaning).
  • They stayed together through thick and thin.

Noun

1. 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
2. something hard to endure
   • the asperity of northern winters
3. a state of misfortune or affliction
   • debt-ridden farmers struggling with adversity
   • a life of hardship