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3. uphill

uphill

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uphill battle

A task that is very daunting from the outset and continues to be challenging. The incumbent is so popular that defeating her will be an uphill battle. I'm terrible at math, so I have a real uphill battle ahead of me if I want to improve my grade in Algebra.

See also: battle, uphill

uphill battle

 and uphill struggle

Fig. a hard struggle. Convincing the senator to see our point of view was an uphill battle, but we finally succeeded.

See also: battle, uphill

an uphill battle/fight/struggle

  also an uphill job/task

if something you are trying to do is an uphill struggle, it is very difficult, often because other people are causing problems for you Environmentalists face an uphill struggle convincing people to use their cars less. We're trying to expand our business, but it's an uphill battle.

See also: battle, uphill

it's all downhill

Also, it's all uphill from here. See under downhill all the way.

See also: all, downhill