| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | preoccupation |
| Synonyms: | block, difficulty, dilemma, disturbance, impasse, inhibition, obsession, predicament, problem, reserve, restraint, thing |
| Main Entry: | addiction |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | a habit of activity, often injurious |
| Synonyms: | bag*, bent, craving, dependence, enslavement, fixation, hang-up, hook, inclination, jones, kick*, monkey on back, monkey*, obsession, shot*, sweet tooth, thing* |
| Notes: | addiction is mainly physical while dependency is mostly psychological |
| Main Entry: | aggravation |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | annoyance |
| Synonyms: | affliction, aggro, bother, botheration, difficulty, distress, exasperation, hang-up, headache, irksomeness, irritation, pain, pain in the neck, pet peeve, provocation, teasing, vexation, worry |
| Main Entry: | complex |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | psychological problem |
| Synonyms: | a thing about something, anxiety, exaggerated reaction, fear, fixation, fixed idea, hang-up, idée fixe, insanity, mania, neurosis, obsession, phobia, preoccupation, repression |
| Notes: | something complex may be well-organized and logically constructed as well as subtle and intricate, while a thing that is complicated will have something irregular, perverse, asymmetrical in addition to fundamental intricacy; complex is more formal and technical (a problem in mathematics is complex) while something like personal life can be complicated |
| Main Entry: | compulsion |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | drive, obligation |
| Synonyms: | coercion, constraint, demand, drive, driving, duress, duty, engrossment, exigency, force, hang-up, have on the brain, monkey*, necessity, need, obsession, preoccupation, prepossession, pressure, tiger by the tail, urge, urgency |
| Antonyms: | free will, freedom, independence, liberty, license |
| Main Entry: | constraint |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | force |
| Synonyms: | a must, coercion, compulsion, driving, duress, goad, hang-up, impelling, impulsion, monkey*, motive, necessity, no-no, pressure, repression, restraint, spring, spur, suppression, violence |
| Main Entry: | constraint |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | shyness |
| Synonyms: | bashfulness, diffidence, embarrassment, hang-up, humility, inhibition, modesty, repression, reservation, reserve, restraint, timidity |
| Antonyms: | aggression |
| Main Entry: | custom |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | habitual action |
| Synonyms: | addiction, beaten path, characteristic, consuetude, daily grind, fashion, form, grind*, groove, habit, habitude, hang-up, into*, manner, matter of course, mode, observance, practice, praxis, precedent, procedure, proprieties, routine, rule, second nature, shot, swim, thing, trick, usage, use, way, wont |
| Notes: | costume and custom were actually two forms of the same Latin root consuetudinem 'habit, custom,' with costume first meaning 'manners and customs belonging to a particular time and place' |
| Antonyms: | departure, deviation, difference, divergence, irregularity |
| Main Entry: | drag |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | bad situation |
| Synonyms: | annoyance, bore, bother, burden, encumbrance, hang-up, hindrance, impediment, nuisance, pain, pest, pill, sway, trouble |