distress.
Physical or emotional discomfort, suffering, or alarm, particularly of a more acute nature.
Meaning & usage
Physical or emotional discomfort, suffering, or alarm, particularly of a more acute nature.
A cause of such discomfort.
Serious danger.
a ship in distress
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.
Where this word comes from
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.
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.
a pair of distressed jeans
She distressed the new media cabinet so that it fit with the other furniture in the room.
Where this word comes from
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.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.