a state of misfortune or affliction; debt-ridden farmers struggling with adversity; a life of hardship

[ Syn: adversity , hard knocks ]

something hard to endure; the asperity of northern winters

[ Syn: asperity , grimness , rigor , rigour , severity , severeness , rigorousness , rigourousness ]

something that causes or entails suffering; I cannot think it a hardship that more indulgence is allowed to men than to women- James Boswell; the many hardships of frontier life'