Talking about difficulty

Question

What's the difference between punishing,strict, tough, arduous,gruelling and tricky when we're describing something that is difficult? How may I know I'm using the correct one?

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

These six adjectives have a roughly similar sense: difficult, challenging. But they are typically used in different situations. For example:

1. It was a punishing daily ritual that the Buddhist monks had to go through. It was a punishing drill that the marine recruits were required to do every day. (Punishing is the harshest of the six adjectives and is usually used to describe physical routines in the military and similar organizations.)

2. The new teacher was strict and required us to do homework every day, with double assignments over the weekend. The discipline was strict at the new parochial school that I was sent to. (Strict has a more abstract sense, and is used especially in academic and similar situations.)

3. It was a tough course that every physics major was required to take. The requirements to get into that college are tough. (Tough has an abstract sense and is usually used to describe courses of study and requirements for admission.)

4. It was an arduous journey through jungles and swamps. It was an arduous task he was assigned to do, checking every rivet and weld in every plane for defects. (Arduous is generally used to describe tasks or journeys that are lengthy and difficult to complete.)

Anonymous · Answer

5. It was a grueling routine that he was required to do daily by his personal trainer. The prospective team members were put through grueling daily drills to see who would make the team. (The word grueling has an unpleasant sound in English and is typically associated with physical routines that have an unpleasant character. It can often be used interchangeably with the word punishing.)

6. It was a tricky task he had to do: selecting those colts who had the best chance of being derby winners. It was tricky to negotiate the narrow path along the side of the mountain at night. (Tricky implies judgment as the main requirement in a situation.)

Talking about difficulty

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