Noun | 1. | ![]() difficultness, difficulty - the quality of being difficult; "they agreed about the difficulty of the climb" sternness - the quality (as of scenery) being grim and gloomy and forbidding; "the sternness of his surroundings made him uncomfortable" |
2. | rigourousness - excessive sternness; "severity of character"; "the harshness of his punishment was inhuman"; "the rigors of boot camp" sternness, strictness - uncompromising resolution |