distress
Plural: distresses
Noun
- psychological suffering
- "the death of his wife caused him great distress"
- a state of adversity (danger or affliction or need)
- "a ship in distress"
- "she was the classic maiden in distress"
- extreme physical pain
- "the patient appeared to be in distress"
- the seizure and holding of property as security for payment of a debt or satisfaction of a claim
- "Originally distress was a landlord's remedy against a tenant for unpaid rents or property damage but now the landlord is given a landlord's lien"
- Physical or emotional discomfort, suffering, or alarm, particularly of a more acute nature.
- A cause of such discomfort.
- Serious danger.
- An aversive state of stress to which a person cannot fully adapt.
- A seizing of property without legal process to force payment of a debt.
- The thing taken by distraining; that which is seized to procure satisfaction.
Verb
Verb Forms: distressed, distressing, distresses
- To cause severe anxiety, sorrow, or suffering to.
- bring into difficulties or distress, especially financial hardship
- cause mental pain to
- "The news of her child's illness distressed the mother"
- To cause strain or anxiety to someone.
- To retain someone’s property against the payment of a debt; to distrain.
- To treat a new object to give it an appearance of age.
Examples
- a pair of distressed jeans
- My opponent’s unexpected bingo managed to DISTRESS my confidence for a moment.
- She distressed the new media cabinet so that it fit with the other furniture in the room.
Origin / Etymology
The verb is from Middle English distressen, from Old French destrecier (“to restrain, constrain, put in straits, afflict, distress”); compare French détresse. Ultimately from Medieval Latin as if *districtiō, an assumed frequentative form of Latin distringō (“to pull asunder, stretch out”), from dis- (“apart”) + stringō (“to draw tight, strain”).
The noun is from Middle English distresse, from Old French destrece, ultimately also from Latin distringō.
Synonyms
distraint, hurt, straiten, suffering, adventure, afflict, affliction, age, aggrievance, aggrieve, anguish, antique, atray, cag, danger, difficulty, distrain, distress, engrieve, extremity, grame, grief, grievance, harass, hardship, harm's way, harrow, harry, hazard, jeopardy, martyr, menace, misery, pain, patinate, peril, plague, plight, rend, risk, ruth, sadness, smart, sorrow, tantalise, tantalize, threat, torment, torture, trouble, undelight, vex, vexation, woe, wring, wrong
Scrabble Score: 9
distress: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Worddistress: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
distress: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary