hard to follow
9
6.4
- idiom
:
difícil de seguir
- I've never really understood calorie counting, and it always seems so hard to follow.
If you think that's hard to follow, imagine explaining it to the dog.
- If you think that's hard to follow, imagine explaining it to the dog.
Examples
-
Sometimes it's hard to follow Gus's thought processes.
Fiction book (2000) -
Heidi tried to listen, but the piece was hard to follow.
Fiction book (2001) -
And I found the story quite hard to follow.
-
I find it hard to follow these days.
-
I found the book hard to follow.
-
I'm finding it very hard to follow this story.
-
I know it's a little hard to follow everything that's going on right now.
-
The play proves to be avant-garde and hard to follow.
Fiction book (1990) -
I found the lecture on quantum physics hard to follow.
-
The instructions for assembling the furniture were so complicated that they were hard to follow.
Synonyms
∞
1.6
Not easy to do or understand
∞
8.6
Not clear enough to understand
876
5.4
Difficult to understand or deal with because it has many connected parts
648
5.6
Not simple because it has many connected parts
276
3.2
Hard to understand and makes people feel unsure
207
3.9
Not easy to understand or know for sure
52
7.0
Hard to understand or describe, like the meaning of a symbol
46
8.8
Difficult or impossible to understand
31
8.6
Very complicated and hard to follow, often not needed
28
8.2
Hard to understand because it is unclear or complex
14
4.1
Hard or impossible to read
14
8.3
Very hard to understand
8
8.8
Too hard to read or understand
7
8.1
Full of twists and turns, like a winding road or an argument
3
9.9
Hard to understand because it is very complex
1
8.1
Difficult to solve or understand, often about problems
1
6.2
More complex than it needs to be
1
9.1
Very hard to read or understand
1
8.2
Not possible to understand or explain
1
9.9
A subject that only a few people understand because it is hard to follow
Very hard to understand because it is complicated
Antonyms
How Clear
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'difficult to understand' is directly compositional from 'hard' (difficult) plus the verb 'follow' (to understand or track); the infinitival 'to' simply links the adjective and verb. This adjective + to + verb construction is a common, cross-linguistic pattern, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
The phrase hard to follow creates a simple image: you try to walk behind someone who keeps turning or moving quickly, so they are hard to follow. That's why it means 'difficult to understand'.