distress

Meaning

Noun

1. (countable, uncountable) Physical or emotional discomfort, suffering, or alarm, particularly of a more acute nature.
2. (countable, uncountable) A cause of such discomfort.
3. (countable, uncountable) Serious danger.
4. (countable, uncountable) An aversive state of stress to which a person cannot fully adapt.
5. (countable, uncountable) A seizing of property without legal process to force payment of a debt.
6. (countable, uncountable) The thing taken by distraining; that which is seized to procure satisfaction.

Verb

1. To cause strain or anxiety to someone.
2. To retain someone’s property against the payment of a debt; to distrain.
3. To treat a new object to give it an appearance of age.

Opposite of

eustress

Synonyms

trouble

affliction

sorrow

pain

suffering

grief

hardship

misery

worry

anguish

afflict

upset

misfortune

torment

anxiety

agony

difficulty

grieve

sadden

sadness

woe

calamity

adversity

hurt

ache

soreness

poverty

disaster

illness

vexation

need

heartbreak

sickness

shock

⚡

concern

distrain

trial

bother

aggrieve

indigence

be depressed

danger

❗

make sad

distraint

annoy

care

plague

troubles

problem

wretchedness

Translations

douleur

Kummer

dolore

détresse

Qual

acı

dolor

πόνος

angoscia

peine

Not

dolor

Schmerz

bedroeven

Betrübnis

Pronounced as (IPA)

/dɪˈstɹɛs/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: distressen

Cognate with French: détresse

Inherited from Middle English: distresse

In summary

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.