hardship
Life's steep climb
Hardship is difficulty, suffering, or privation—conditions that make life harder than it should be.
The word often appears in contexts of endurance: economic hardship, years of hardship, endure hardship.
A hardship can also be a specific burden or deprivation: The long commute was a real hardship for her.
Extreme poverty, lacking necessities
- penuryExtreme lack of money
- indigenceExtreme poverty, total want
- wantTo desire something
- privationLack of necessities
scarcity · impoverishment · squalor · homelessness · hunger · starvation · malnutrition · unemployment
Sustained experience of distress
- misfortuneAdverse circumstance or event
- tribulationState of great distress
- ordealDifficult, painful experience
- afflictionCause of ongoing distress
calamity · distress · plight · predicament · setback · catastrophe · disaster · trauma
Strenuous, prolonged effort
- laborStrenuous effort; also childbirth
- grindCrush into particles
- slogLaborious persistent effort
- effortApplied energy toward goals
battle · fight · striving · endeavor · exertion · resistance · obstacle · challenge
Excessive stretching force
- stressPressure, mental or vocal
- weightMeasure of heaviness
- pressureForce upon contact
- loadCarried weight or burden
onus · obligation · yoke · millstone · albatross · encumbrance · toll · heaviness
Oppressive, absolute governance
- persecutionSystematic mistreatment of groups
- subjugationForcing into submission
- repressionUnconscious blocking of thoughts
- dominationSupreme authority held
suppression · victimization · maltreatment · injustice · discrimination · exploitation · enslavement · bondage
Economical resource management
- rationingLimiting distribution during scarcity
- cutbacksReductions in spending
- self-denialRestraining one's own desires
- sacrificeGiving up something precious
abstinence · thrift · simplicity · economy · parsimony · temperance · restraint · budgeting
State following loss
- deprivationState of lacking necessities
- dispossessionDeprival of property rights
- confiscationSeizure by authority
- seizureForcible taking or convulsion
forfeiture · displacement · exile · separation · abandonment · disinheritance · eviction · bankruptcy
destitution
Extreme poverty, lacking necessities
privation · scarcity · impoverishment · squalor · homelessness · hunger · starvation · malnutrition · unemployment · subsistence
suffering
Sustained experience of distress
- misfortuneAdverse circumstance or event
- tribulationState of great distress
- ordealDifficult, painful experience
affliction · calamity · distress · plight · predicament · setback · catastrophe · disaster · trauma · misery
toil
Strenuous, prolonged effort
effort · battle · fight · striving · endeavor · exertion · resistance · obstacle · challenge · conflict
strain
Excessive stretching force
load · onus · obligation · yoke · millstone · albatross · encumbrance · toll · heaviness · oppression
tyranny
Oppressive, absolute governance
- persecutionSystematic mistreatment of groups
- subjugationForcing into submission
- repressionUnconscious blocking of thoughts
domination · suppression · victimization · maltreatment · injustice · discrimination · exploitation · enslavement · bondage · cruelty
frugality
Economical resource management
- rationingLimiting distribution during scarcity
- cutbacksReductions in spending
- self-denialRestraining one's own desires
sacrifice · abstinence · thrift · simplicity · economy · parsimony · temperance · restraint · budgeting · tightening
bereavement
State following loss
- deprivationState of lacking necessities
- dispossessionDeprival of property rights
- confiscationSeizure by authority
seizure · forfeiture · displacement · exile · separation · abandonment · disinheritance · eviction · bankruptcy · foreclosure
- debtdebt, creditor, owe, debtor, lender
- povertypoverty line, poor, poverty rate, impoverished, generational poverty
- frontierfrontier, pioneer, pioneers, settlers, settler
- hard timesstruggle, struggling, unemployment, tough times, joblessness
- hardshipadversity, difficulty, trouble, struggle, challenges
- Troublesproblem, trouble, issue, setback, snag
hardshipease
Lack of strain
comfort · smooth sailing · easy street · convenience · facilitation
hardshipcomfort
Ease or soothing relief
pleasure · luxury · contentment · wellbeing · happiness
hardshipprosperity
Good fortune, success
good fortune · abundance · plenty · affluence · privilege
- financial hardshipSevere money difficulties
- hardship payCompensation for difficult conditions
- economic hardshipSevere money troubles
- undue hardshipUnreasonable difficulty or strain
- winter hardshipsDifficulties during cold months
- hardship fundMoney reserved for difficulties