WordWeb Online

1. A state of misfortune or affliction
   "a life of hardship";
   - adversity, hard knocks
    
2. The quality of being hard to endure, uninviting or formidable
   "the hardship of northern winters";
   - asperity, grimness, rigor [US], rigour [Brit, Cdn], severity, severeness, rigorousness, rigourousness [Brit, non-standard]
    
3. Something that causes or entails suffering
   "I cannot think it a hardship that more indulgence is allowed to men than to women"; "the many hardships of frontier life"

Derived forms: hardships

Type of: bad luck, difficultness, difficulty, fix [informal], hole [informal], ill luck, jam [informal], kettle of fish [informal], mess [informal], misfortune, muddle [informal], pickle [informal], tough luck

Encyclopedia: Hardship