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A man has just opened his newspaper and pulled out a bundle of leaflets. He
then says:

> 「いっぱい広告が入ってるなァ。お歳暮も大変だよなァ」  
>  It's full of adverts. The year-end gifts are (also?) great/terrible.

I've never properly understood 大変. How do I know if the man is happy or upset
by the year-end gifts? My guess is that he's not happy because leaflets in
newspapers are a pain, but it's not clear to me at all.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-02-25T21:28:32.780
32470
2016-02-26T01:43:58.030
7944
question
words
大変　How to choose correct meaning
I think it's neither of those definitions. I think in this sentence it has
definition 2 from
[here](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/134412/meaning/m0u/%E5%A4%A7%E5%A4%89/):

> 物事が重大であること。また、そのさま。「―な失敗をする」「大型台風の通過で―な被害を受ける」

and the sentence means something like:

> It's full of adverts. There's way too many year-end gifts too.
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2016-02-26T01:27:13.137
32473
2016-02-26T01:27:13.137
10045
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answer
It's still ambiguous if it refers to customers or sellers but anyway, you can
take sense of costing too much or a lot to do into account.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-02-26T01:33:23.243
32474
2016-02-26T01:33:23.243
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answer
While I agree that 大変 doesn't necessary indicate the man is happy or not, I'd
say that **he is feeling some sort of sympathy** , because, in this case, 大変
refers to the _competition_ among companies **being tough**.  
What do I mean by _competition_? Considering lots of people give out end-year
gifts in Japan, those companies must be trying their best to _win_ as big
sales as they can.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-02-26T01:43:58.030
32475
2016-02-26T01:43:58.030
13662
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answer