## Meanings
1. A feeling of great emotional pain, worry, or suffering.
2. Severe physical pain or discomfort.
3. A state of serious danger or trouble needing urgent help.
4. To make someone feel very upset or worried.

## Examples
- The death of their brother caused them great distress.
- The patient was clearly in distress and could barely breathe.
- The coastguard rushed to help a ship in distress.
- I was distressed by the news of my grandmother's illness.

## Synonyms
- anguish
- difficulty
- extremity
- grief
- hardship
- pain
- rend
- smart
- torment
- torture
- trouble

## Antonyms
- calmness
- pleasure

## Derived Forms
- distressee
- distresser
- distressful
- distressless
- postdistress
- predistress
- undistress

## Related Forms
- distrain
- district
- offend
- vex

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *streyg-
- Root: distressen
- Root: destrecier
- Root: distringō
- Root: distresse
- Root: destrece

## 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 Old French destrece, ultimately also from Latin distringō.

## AI Etymology
For distress, 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. The historical chain includes *streyg- (Proto-Indo-European), distressen (Middle English), destrecier (Old French), distringō (Latin), and distresse (Middle English). The surrounding word family includes derived forms such as distressee, distresser, distressful, and distressless and related forms such as distrain, district, and offend. In present use it covers a feeling of great emotional pain, worry, or suffering, severe physical pain or discomfort, and a state of serious danger or trouble needing urgent help.

## Topics
- Emotions & Feelings
- Actions & Processes
- Word Formation & Derivatives

markdown

distress

Meanings

Thesaurus

Common collocations

Etymology

Topics

External links

Keyboard Shortcuts

General

Send feedback