🏢 High in height ⛰️ Very difficult 🦄 Unbelievable story 👖 Longer size

tall

36 7.5

Hard to do or achieve

adjective
/tɔl/

Informal

: difícil

It's a tall order, by golly, but this able young monarch, one of Europe's most eligible royal bachelors, seems determined to show the world there's more to life than guns and warfare.
a tall order

Now, what's nice about West Point is West Point started saying that is a very tall hurdle for any young person.

Examples

Seems rather a tall order.

Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022)
Although all these initiatives are tall orders, given the potential benefits, they are well worth a try.

Academic text (2011)
Given the state of the world, a tall order.

Mank (2020)
That's a pretty tall order for a secret operation, sir.

Three Kings (1999)
But even that, Epstein would be the first to concede, is a tall order.

Academic text (1993)
Renewing diplomacy in the Middle East will be a tall order for Obama.

Academic text (2009)
And I didnt realizeI dont think I realized that quite what a tall order that was.

No Maps for These Territories (2000)
Completing all those tasks by the deadline is quite a tall order.
Getting everyone to agree on the changes will be a tall order for the team.
Expecting her to finish the project alone is a tall order given the complexity.

Antonyms

easy

∞ 1.0

Not hard to do, understand, or achieve

simple

∞ 1.0

Easy to understand or do

Idioms

to cut down the tall poppy

Australian

9.9

To criticize someone who stands out to make them seem less successful

to ride tall in the saddle

8.2

Feel and act confident

tall in the saddle

Informal

8.3

Confident and in control of a situation

Compounds

tall tale

Literature

19 4.0

A story that says things are bigger or more amazing than they really are to be funny

tall order

Informal

16 6.9

A task that is very hard to do

tall-grass

6 3.9

Grass that grows tall in wet, rich places

tall story

Informal

1 7.3

A made-up tale that is hard to believe

tall cupflower

9.9

A small bush from Chile with bluish-white tube-shaped flowers grown in gardens

tall field buttercup

6.8

A tall wild plant with bright yellow spring flowers that can poison farm animals

tall gallberry holly

9.9

An evergreen shrub with white flowers and red berries that animals eat

tall goldenrod

7.6

A tall wild plant with many small yellow flowers that grows in fields

tall bellflower

8.5

A North American plant with tall stems of blue or white bell-shaped flowers

tall bilberry

8.7

A tall bush from eastern North America that makes sweet blue-black berries used to grow blueberries

tall buttercup

8.3

A wild plant with tall stems and bright yellow flowers

tall crowfoot

9.9

A European wild flower that comes back every year with bright yellow spring flowers

tall mallow

8.4

A tall garden plant with pink-purple flowers that grows back every year

tall meadow grass

6.1

A tall rough grass that grows in meadows and roadsides and is used for hay

tall white violet

8.6

A tall North American wild flower with heart-shaped leaves and white flowers with purple streaks

tall yellow-eye

Australian

9.9

A tall Australian plant with yellow flowers that comes back each year

tall oat grass

7.1

A tall rough grass from Europe and Asia that looks like oats and grows by roads and fields

tall oil

Specialized

9.6

An oily product left from wood pulp during paper making used to make soap and oils for machines

tall sunflower

5.0

A very tall plant with large yellow flowers and edible underground roots

tall-growing

3.4

A plant that reaches a great height with long thin stems

tall-stalked

5.3

A plant that has a long stem

How Difficult

impossible

∞ 1.4

daunting

78 6.2

tall

Informal

36 7.5

demanding

4.1

difficult

∞ 1.6

challenging

183 4.4

easy

∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

tall positive

taller comparative

tallest superlative

Etymology

The word tall in expressions like 'a tall order' uses the image of a task that is 'high' to reach, so it means something very hard or demanding to do.