hardship

[hahrd-ship] /ˈhɑrd ʃɪp/
noun
1.
a condition that is difficult to endure; suffering; deprivation; oppression:
a life of hardship.
2.
an instance or cause of this; something hard to bear, as a deprivation, lack of comfort, or constant toil or danger:
They faced bravely the many hardships of frontier life.
Origin
1175-1225; Middle English; see hard, -ship
Synonyms
1. trouble, affliction, suffering, misfortune. Hardship, privation, austerity refer to a condition hard to endure. Hardship applies to a circumstance in which excessive and painful effort of some kind is required, as enduring acute discomfort from cold, or battling over rough terrain. Privation has particular reference to lack of food, clothing, and other necessities or comforts. Austerity not only includes the ideas of privation and hardship but also implies deliberate control of emotional reactions to these.
Antonyms
1. ease.
Examples from the web for hardship
  • But the work of the genuine explorer and wilderness wanderer is fraught with fatigue, hardship, and danger.
  • The survey also found that the personal experience of economic hardship correlates with concerns over immigration.
  • Interesting comparison, but gender differences in economic hardship reach beyond employment statistics.
  • It can be quite a hardship for a graduate student on a limited budget to find time for unpaid work or a modestly paid internship.
  • Typically, migration is countercyclical-people move more when economic hardship hits.
  • Harsh winter weather can be a hardship for any creature.
  • Some people stop at nothing to get what they want, persisting in the face of continual hardship.
  • It is almost surreal for them to understand how so many people are able to live day after day giving the hardship they must face.
  • We are entering a period when for blacks there is a dangerous and growing confluence of severe economic hardship and dashed hopes.
  • It might cause some hardship to your current colleagues, but that is the nature of the market.
British Dictionary definitions for hardship

hardship

/ˈhɑːdʃɪp/
noun
1.
conditions of life difficult to endure
2.
something that causes suffering or privation
Word Origin and History for hardship
n.

c.1200, "quality of being hard," from hard + -ship. Meaning "disadvantage, suffering, privation" is c.1400.