Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Hardship \Hard"ship\, n.
   That which is hard to hear, as toil, privation, injury,
   injustice, etc. --Swift.

Source : WordNet®

hardship
     n 1: a state of misfortune or affliction; "debt-ridden farmers
          struggling with adversity"; "a life of hardship" [syn: {adversity},
           {hard knocks}]
     2: something hard to endure; "the asperity of northern winters"
        [syn: {asperity}, {grimness}, {rigor}, {rigour}, {severity},
         {rigorousness}]
     3: something that causes or entails suffering; "I cannot think
        it a hardship that more indulgence is allowed to men than
        to women"- James Boswell; "the many hardships of frontier
        life"