Dictionary Definition
distress
Noun
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 remedy against a tenant for unpaid rents
or property damage but now the landlord is given a landlord's lien"
[syn: distraint] v :
cause mental pain to; "The news of her child's illness distressed
the mother"
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Pronunciation
- /dɪˈstɹɛs/, /dI"strEs/
- Rhymes: -ɛs
Noun
distress- (Cause of) discomfort
- Serious danger
- Three ships were in distress that night.
Translations
(cause of) discomfort
- Icelandic: óþægindi
- Kurdish: ,
Serious danger
- ttbc Spanish: inconforme, en serio peligro
Verb
Extensive Definition
The word distress has various meanings:-
- Distress is a kind of suffering or stress.
- In medicine, distress is stress caused by adverse events. See also fetal distress, respiratory distress.
- In Maritime and Aircraft terms, distress is defined as "grave and imminent danger to life or person or vessel or aircraft, needing immediate assistance". Such a state is indicated by a mayday radio call.
- Distress is also used by Search and Rescue services to describe targets in adverse or critical conditions.
- Distress can also refer to the process whereby materials are worn down by time and natural forces.
- Distressing in woodworking and the decorative arts is the art of making furniture and household objects look old.
- In law, distress, or distraint, is the act of seizing goods to compel payment, or the goods thus seized.
- Distress is a novel by Greg Egan
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
Schmerz, abashment, abuse, ache, aches and pains, aching, adversity, afflict, affliction, aggrieve, agitate, agitation, agonize, agony, ail, all-overs, amercement, angary, angst, anguish, annexation, annexure, annoy, anxiety, anxiety hysteria,
anxiety neurosis, anxious bench, anxious concern, anxious seat,
anxiousness,
apprehension,
apprehensiveness,
attachment, be the
matter, befoul, beset, bewitch, bite, bitter cup, bitter draft,
bitter draught, bitter pill, bitterness, bleakness, blight, blow, bother, broken fortune, burden, burden of care, burn, calamity, cankerworm of care,
care, catastrophe, chafe, chagrin, cheerlessness, collectivization,
comfortlessness,
commandeering,
communalization,
communization,
complicate matters, concern, concernment, condemn, confiscation, confusion, constrain, convulse, corrupt, cramp, cross, crown of thorns, crucify, curse, cut, damage, damages, defile, deprave, depress, depression, desolation, despoil, destroy, difficulties, difficulty, disadvantage, disaster, discomfiture, discomfort, discommode, discomposure, disconcertion, disconcertment, discountenance, dismalness, dismay, disquiet, disquietude, disserve, distraint, distressfulness,
disturb, disturbance, do a mischief,
do evil, do ill, do wrong, do wrong by, dolor, doom, dread, dreariness, embarrassment, eminent
domain, encumbrance,
envenom, escheat, escheatment, excruciate, execution, exigency, expropriation, fear, fester, fine, foreboding, forebodingness, forfeit, forfeiture, frazzle, fret, gall, gall and wormwood, garnishment, genteel
poverty, get into trouble, give concern, give pain, gnaw, grate, grief, grievance, grieve, grievousness, grind, gripe, harass, hard pinch, hardship, harm, harrow, harry, heartache, heartbreak, hex, hurt, hurting, impair, impecuniosity, impecuniousness,
impoundment,
impressment,
inconvenience,
infect, inflame, inflict pain, infliction, injure, injury, inquietude, insolvency, irk, irritate, jinx, joylessness, kill by inches,
lacerate, lament, lamentability, lamentation, lesion, levy, light purse, load, load with care, malaise, maltreat, martyr, martyrize, menace, misery, misfortune, misgiving, mistreat, molest, mortification, mourn, mournfulness, mulct, narrow means, nasty blow,
nationalization,
nervous strain, nervous tension, nervousness, nip, oppress, oppression, outrage, overanxiety, pack of
troubles, pain, painfulness, pang, pass, passion, pathos, peck of troubles,
perplex, persecute, perturb, perturbation, pester, pierce, pinch, pins and needles, pitiability, pitiableness, pitifulness, plague, play havoc with, play hob
with, poignancy,
poison, pollute, poorness, pother, poverty, prejudice, prick, prolong the agony, pucker, put out, put to it, put
to torture, puzzle,
rack, rankle, rasp, regrettableness, right
of angary, rigor, rub, sadness, savage, scathe, sconce, sea of troubles, sequestration, sharpness, shock, slender means, socialization, solicitude, sore, sore spot, sorrow, sorrowfulness, spasm, stab, stew, sting, strain, strait, straitened circumstances,
straits, stress, stress of life, stroke, suffering, suspense, taint, tender spot, tension, thorn, threaten, throes, tight squeeze, torment, torture, tragedy, trial, tribulation, trouble, try, tweak, twinge, twist, uneasiness, unhappiness, unprosperousness,
unquietness,
upset, vex, vexation, vicissitude, violate, visitation, voluntary
poverty, vows of poverty, waters of bitterness, weigh, weight, woe, woebegoneness, woefulness, worry, wound, wreak havoc on, wrench, wretchedness, wring, wrong, zeal