Difficult
Difficult adjective - Requiring considerable physical or mental effort.
Usage example: difficult questions on the exam that required analytical thinking
Strict and difficult are semantically related. In some cases you can use "Strict" instead an adjective "Difficult".
Nearby Word: difficulty
Strict
Strict adjective - Following an original exactly.
Difficult and strict are semantically related. Sometimes you can use "Difficult" instead an adjective "Strict".
Nearby Words: strictly, strictness
Mutual synonyms
Related pairs
Both words in one sentence
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A cold and rather emotionless firearms officer, he is notoriously strict and difficult to work with.
Source: Series / Line of Duty - The sequel decided to instead make you take a Digger's Exam: A timed level with a very strict time limit with a weapon loadout that pushed you about as close to a No-Gear Level as the game could get, making for a mind-numbingly difficult run.
Source: Scrappy Mechanic / Action - What makes it more difficult is that clips that are usually posted on YouTube end up getting taken down after a few months, as CBS is very strict when it comes to copyright law.
Source: Missing Episode / Live-Action TV
Cite this Source
Strict and Difficult. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 22, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/difficult/strict
Difficult & Strict. N.p., 2016. Web. 22 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/difficult/strict>.
Strict or Difficult. 2016. Accessed July 22, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/difficult/strict.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "difficult" and "strict" have occurred on timeline