| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | arrange hair |
| Synonyms: | adjust, card, cleanse, curry, disentangle, dress, groom, hackle, hatchel, lay smooth, rasp, scrape, separate, smooth, sort, straighten, tease, untangle |
| Main Entry: | creak |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | grind, grate with high noise |
| Synonyms: | chirr, crepitate, groan, rasp, scrape, scratch, screech, sound, squeak, squeal |
| Main Entry: | difficulty |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | problem; situation requiring great effort |
| Synonyms: | adversity, arduousness, awkwardness, barricade, check, complication, crisis, crux, dead end, deadlock, deep water, dilemma, distress, emergency, exigency, fix*, frustration, hardship, hazard, hindrance, hitch*, hot water, impasse, knot*, labor, laboriousness, mess, misfortune, muddle, obstacle, obstruction, pain, painfulness, paradox, perplexity, pickle, predicament, quagmire, quandary, scrape*, snag*, stew, strain, strait, strenuousness, struggle, stumbling block, tribulation, trouble |
| Antonyms: | calm, ease, felicity, peace, tranquility |
| Main Entry: | difficulty |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | mental burden |
| Synonyms: | ado, aggravation, annoyance, anxiety, bafflement, bother, care, charge, complication, crisis, depression, discouragement, distress, embarrassment, emergency, exigency, frustration, grievance, hangup, harassment, imbroglio, inconvenience, irritation, jam, maze, mess, millstone, misery, oppression, perplexity, pickle, pinch, predicament, pressure, puzzle, quandary, ramification, responsibility, scrape*, setback, strain, strait, stress, strife, struggle, to-do, trouble, vicissitude, weight, worry |
| Antonyms: | calmness, contentment, peace, pleasure, satisfaction |
| Main Entry: | dilemma |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | crisis |
| Synonyms: | Catch-22, bind*, box*, corner, difficulty, double bind, embarrassment, fix, hole, hooker, impasse, jam, mess, mire, perplexity, pickle, plight, predicament, problem, puzzle, quandary, scrape, spot, strait, tight corner |
| Antonyms: | miracle, solution, wonder |
| Main Entry: | distress |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | hardship, adversity |
| Synonyms: | bad luck, bummer, calamity, can of worms, catastrophe, crunch, destitution, difficulty, disaster, downer, drag*, exigency, hard knocks, hard time, holy mess, hot water, indigence, jam*, misfortune, need, pickle, pinch*, poverty, privation, rigor, rotten luck, scrape*, straits, throe, ticklish spot, tough break, tough luck, trial, trouble, unholy mess, vicissitude, want |
| Antonyms: | advantage, benefit, miracle |
| Main Entry: | embarrassment |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | humiliation, shame |
| Synonyms: | awkward situation, awkwardness, bashfulness, bind, boo boo, chagrin, clumsiness, complexity, confusion, destitution, difficulty, dilemma, discomfiture, discomposure, disconcertion, distress, egg on face, faux pas, fix, hitch, hot seat, hot water, impecuniosity, indebtedness, indiscretion, inhibition, mess, mistake, mortification, pickle, pinch, plight, poverty, predicament, puzzle, quandary, scrape, self-consciousness, shyness, snag, stew, strait, tangle, timidity, unease, uneasiness |
| Antonyms: | comfort, confidence |
| Main Entry: | emergency |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | crisis, danger |
| Synonyms: | accident, climax, clutch*, compulsion, crossroad, crunch, depression, difficulty, distress, exigency, extremity, fix, hole, impasse, juncture, meltdown, misadventure, necessity, pass, pinch*, plight, predicament, pressure, push, quandary, scrape, squeeze, strait, tension, turning point, urgency, vicissitude, zero hour |
| Antonyms: | calm, peace |
| Main Entry: | escapade |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | adventure, usually lighthearted |
| Synonyms: | antic, caper, fling, folly, frolic, gag, high jinks, lark, mischief, monkeyshines, prank, rib, roguery, rollick, romp, scrape, shenanigans*, spree, stunt, trick, vagary |