苦しい

painful; difficult; tough; hard

distressing; (psychologically) difficult; stressful; awkward (e.g. position)

straitened (circumstances); tight (financial situation); needy; struggling

strained (interpretation, explanation, etc.); lame (e.g. excuse); forced (e.g. smile); far-fetched

hard to do; unpleasant

after -masu stem of verb; often ぐるしい