adversity.

Hardship or unfavorable circumstances that test someone's resources or resolve.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• overcome adversity
• in adversity

On the page

The correspondence reveals how she worked through adversity.

Usage notes

Primary category: academic / formal. Forms: Usually uncountable; no ordinary plural in this sense. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: analysis, description. Commonness: moderately common.