1. Privation; suffering or adversity.
2. The severity with which a proposed construction of law would bear on a particular case, sometimes forming a basis (also known as an argument ab inconvenienti) against the construction. See AB INCONVENIENTI; HARD CASE. [Cases: Statutes 181(2). C.J.S. Statutes § 318.]
3. Family law. A condition that makes it onerous or impossible for a child-support obligor to make the required child-support payment.
4. Zoning. A ground for a variance under some zoning statutes if the zoning ordinance as applied to a particular property is unduly oppressive, arbitrary, or confiscatory; esp., a ground for granting a variance, based on the impossibility or prohibitive expense of conforming the property or its use to the zoning regulation. — Also termed unnecessary hardship. See VARIANCE(2). [Cases: Zoning and Planning 492. C.J.S. Zoning and Land Planning §§ 241–242.]
