distress
Pronunciation: /dɪˈstɹɛs/
The English word “distress” has 9 meanings listed here.
noun
- 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
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…
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More English words
- distraught
- distraughtly
- distraughtness
- distream
- distress call
- distress merchandise
- distress purchase
- distress sale
About this dictionary
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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.