A hardship is a difficult condition or painful experience that tests a person's strength and resilience. When a family faces financial hardship, they might struggle to pay for food or housing. When pioneers traveled west in covered wagons, they endured tremendous hardships: hunger, harsh weather, disease, and the grueling challenge of crossing mountains and deserts.

Hardship is different from ordinary inconvenience or disappointment. Missing recess because of rain is disappointing, but facing hardship means dealing with something genuinely difficult that affects your life in serious ways. A student whose parent loses their job faces real hardship. A community hit by a natural disaster experiences hardship together.

People often grow stronger by working through hardships, though that doesn't make the difficulties any less real or painful. The word suggests something tough that must be endured rather than easily fixed.