Link Centre Dictionary

distress

dist·ress

UK/dɪˈstɹɛs/ US/dɪˈstrɛs/ fairly common
noun (4) verb (1)

noun

1.

psychological suffering

  • “the death of his wife caused him great distress”
Synonyms
2.

a state of adversity (danger or affliction or need)

  • “a ship in distress”
  • “she was the classic maiden in distress”
3.

extreme physical pain

  • “the patient appeared to be in distress”
4.

the seizure and holding of property as security for payment of a debt or satisfaction of a claim

  • “Originally distress was a landloard”
  • “s lien”
Synonyms

verb

1.

cause mental pain to

  • “The news of her child”

Origin

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.

Phrases

  • abuse of distress
  • damsel in distress
  • distress merchandise
  • distress purchase
  • distress sale
  • distress signal
  • infant respiratory distress syndrome
  • moral distress

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.