tricky

tricky — adjective

1. a task or problem that is tricky has hidden difficulties and demands careful han

1.adjectiveB2
Definition

a task or problem that is tricky has hidden difficulties and demands careful handling or skill to complete successfully.

Example

The maths test had a tricky final question that took Hamza twenty minutes to solve.

Fixing the old clock was tricky because several tiny springs were out of place.

collocation: tricky + job / task / problem

Common collocations
  • tricky question
  • tricky situation
  • tricky problem
  • tricky job
  • tricky task
  • tricky to handle
  • tricky to solve
Synonyms
  • challenging

    more positive in tone; suggests the difficulty is interesting and rewarding rather than frustrating

  • complicated

    focuses on having many connected parts; does not imply the need for cleverness

  • demanding

    emphasises the effort or time required rather than hidden difficulty

  • tough

    informal and broader in meaning; can refer to any kind of difficulty

Antonyms
  • easy

    requiring little effort or skill

  • straightforward

    clear and simple, with no hidden complications

Common Mistakes

The exam was tricky because I did not study enough.
The exam was difficult because I did not study enough.
'Tricky' implies hidden difficulty that needs skill, not simply a lack of preparation.

2. appearing easy or trustworthy at first, but actually designed to mislead or chea

2.adjectiveC1
Definition

appearing easy or trustworthy at first, but actually designed to mislead or cheat you.

Example

Caio saw the website questions were tricky when hidden fees appeared at checkout.

The shortcut Élise found on the map was tricky and got them lost.

Common collocations
  • tricky wording
  • tricky contract
  • tricky person
  • tricky character
  • tricky customer
Synonyms
  • misleading

    focuses on giving a wrong impression; weaker moral judgment than 'tricky'

  • deceitful

    stronger and more negative; implies intention to lie or betray

  • cunning

    suggests cleverness and intelligence used for deception

  • sly

    informal; suggests sneakiness and doing things in secret

Antonyms

Word family

  • trick
    nounB1
  • trick
    verbB2
  • trickery
    nounC1
  • trickily
    adverbC2
  • trickiness
    nounC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All five words describe something that is not easy to do or deal with, but each highlights a different aspect. 'Tricky' implies hidden difficulty that takes cleverness to overcome — you might not see the problem coming. 'Challenging' is more positive and suggests the difficulty makes the task interesting or rewarding. 'Complicated' focuses on something having many connected parts that are hard to untangle, rather than being difficult in a hidden way. 'Demanding' stresses the effort, time, or energy required. 'Tough' is the most informal and general, covering any kind of difficulty from physical to emotional. For example, assembling flat-pack furniture is tricky (the instructions hide steps), but running a marathon is tough and demanding, while understanding tax forms is complicated.

Common collocations

Nouns

  • tricky question
  • tricky situation
  • tricky problem
  • tricky issue
  • tricky part
  • tricky customer
  • tricky wording

Adverbs

  • extremely tricky
  • particularly tricky
  • rather tricky
  • a bit tricky

Phrases

  • in a tricky spot
  • a tricky one

Prepositions

  • tricky for (someone)
  • tricky to (do something)

Etymology

Old FrenchMiddle EnglishEnglish

Formed from the noun 'trick' (meaning a deceitful or clever act) plus the suffix '-y', which turns nouns into adjectives. 'Trick' entered English in the 1300s from Old French 'triche' meaning deceit or cheating. The 'difficult' meaning of 'tricky' developed in the early 1800s — if something is full of hidden tricks, it becomes hard to handle. Both the deceptive sense and the difficult sense trace back to the same root idea of cleverness that can be used either to fool people or to solve hard problems.