Difficulty
Difficulty noun - Something that is a cause for suffering or special effort especially in the attainment of a goal.
Usage example: the many difficulties that he encountered on the road from poor orphan to head of a major corporation
Impediment is a synonym for difficulty in problem topic. In some cases you can use "Impediment" instead a noun "Difficulty", when it comes to topics like barrier, obstacle, hardship, asperity. popular alternative
Nearby Word: difficult
Impediment
Impediment noun - Something that makes movement or progress difficult.
Usage example: tough going for the burros on the canyon trail, even without the added impediment of heavy loads
Difficulty is a synonym for impediment in obstacle topic. You can use "Difficulty" instead a noun "Impediment", if it concerns topics such as obstruction, drawback, hardship, asperity. popular alternative
Nearby Words: impede, impedimental
Mutual synonyms
Related pairs
- block and difficulty
- block and impediment
- trouble and difficulty
- trouble and impediment
- jam and difficulty
- jam and impediment
- check and difficulty
- check and impediment
- burden and difficulty
- burden and impediment
- problem and difficulty
- problem and impediment
- complication and difficulty
- complication and impediment
How words are described
Both words in one sentence
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Rob Paulsen voiced Pinky (of Pinky and the Brain) with a speech impediment because he thought the mouse would have difficulty speaking properly with those huge front teeth (this is most pronounced in the earliest episodes).
Source: Speech Impediment -
Speech Impediment: Suffered from a stutter throughout a life, which possibly inspired him caricaturing himself as the Dodo in Alice in Wonderland, referring to the difficulty he had in pronouncing the start of his own surname.
Source: Creator / Lewis Carroll
Cite this Source
Impediment and Difficulty. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/difficulty/impediment
Difficulty & Impediment. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/difficulty/impediment>.
Impediment or Difficulty. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/difficulty/impediment.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "difficulty" and "impediment" have occurred on timeline