Definition of DURESS

duress

Plural: duresses

Noun

  • Threats, violence, constraints, or other action used to compel someone.
  • compulsory force or threat
    • "confessed under duress"
  • Harsh treatment.
  • Constraint by threat.
  • Restraint in which a person is influenced, whether by lawful or unlawful forceful compulsion of their liberty by monition or implementation of physical enforcement; legally for the incurring of civil liability, of a citizen's arrest, or of subrogation, or illegally for the committing of an offense, of forcing a contract, or of using threats.

Verb

  • To put under duress; to pressure.

Examples

  • Someone was duressing her.
  • The small nation was duressed into giving up territory.
  • Under DURESS of the ticking clock, he quickly placed ’QUIZ’ for a triple word score.

Origin / Etymology

Borrowed into Middle English from Old French duresse, from Latin duritia (“hardness”), from durus (“hard”).

Scrabble Score: 7

duress: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
duress: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
duress: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 8

duress: valid Words With Friends Word