ROGET'S THESAURUS OF ENGLISH WORDS AND PHRASES ...

embarrassing, perplexing &c (uncertain) 475; delicate, ticklish, critical; beset with
difficulties, full of difficulties, surrounded by difficulties, entangled by difficulties,
encompassed with difficulties.
under a difficulty; in a box; in difficulty, in hot water, in the suds, in a cleft stick, in a
fix, in the wrong box, in a scrape &c n., in deep water, in a fine pickle; in extremis;
between two stools, between Scylla and Charybdis; surrounded by shoals, surrounded by
breakers, surrounded by quicksands; at cross purposes; not out of the wood.
reduced to straits; hard pressed, sorely pressed; run hard; pinched, put to it, straitened;
hard up, hard put to it, hard set; put to one's shifts; puzzled, at a loss, &c (uncertain) 475;
at the end of one's tether, at the end of one's rope, at one's wit's end, at a nonplus, at a
standstill; graveled, nonplused, nonplussed, stranded, aground; stuck fast, set fast; up a
tree, at bay, aux abois [Fr.], driven into a corner, driven from pillar to post, driven to
extremity, driven to one's wit's end, driven to the wall; au bout de son Latin; out of one's
depth; thrown out.
accomplished with difficulty; hard-fought, hard-earned.
Adv. with difficulty, with much ado; barely, hardly &c adj.; uphill; against the stream,
against the grain; d rebours [Fr.]; invita Minerva [Lat.]; in the teeth of; at a pinch, upon a
pinch; at long odds, against long odds.
Phr. ay there's the rub [Hamlet]; hic labor hoc opus [Lat.] [Vergil]; things are come to a
pretty pass, ab inconvenienti [Lat.]; ad astra per aspera [Lat.]; acun chemin de fleurs ne
conduit a la gloire [Fr.].
705. Facility -- N. facility, ease; easiness &c adj.; capability; feasibility &c
(practicability) 470; flexibility, pliancy &c 324; smoothness &c 255.
plain sailing, smooth sailing, straight sailing; mere child's play, holiday task; cinch
[U.S.].
smooth water, fair wind; smooth royal road; clear coast, clear stage; tabula rasa [Lat.];
full play &c (freedom) 748.
disencumbrance † , disentanglement; deoppilation † ; permission &c 760.
simplicity, lack of complication.
V. be easy &c adj.; go on smoothly, run smoothly; have full play &c n.; go on all fours,
run on all fours; obey the helm, work well.
flow with the stream, swim with the stream, drift with the stream, go with the stream,
flow with the tide, drift with the tide; see one's way; have all one's own way, have the
game in one's own hands; walk over the course, win at a canter; make light of, make
nothing of, make no bones of.
be at home in, make it look easy, do it with one's eyes closed, do it in one's sleep &c
(skillful) 698.
render easy &c adj.; facilitate, smooth, ease; popularize; lighten, lighten the labor;
free, clear; disencumber, disembarrass, disentangle, disengage; deobstruct † , unclog,
extricate, unravel; untie the knot, cut the knot; disburden, unload, exonerate, emancipate,
free from, deoppilate † ; humor &c (aid) 707; lubricate &c 332; relieve &c 834.
leave a hole to creep out of, leave a loophole, leave the matter open; give the reins to,
give full play, give full swing; make way for; open the door to, open the way, prepare the
ground, smooth the ground, clear the ground, open the way, open the path, open the road;
pave the way, bridge over; permit &c 760.