Distress

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: dis=tress

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Distress, n. & v.
--n.
1 severe pain, sorrow, anguish, etc.
2 the lack of money or comforts.
3 Law = DISTRAINT.
4 breathlessness; exhaustion.
--v.tr.
1 subject to distress; exhaust, afflict.
2 cause anxiety to; make unhappy; vex.

Idiom

distress-signal a signal from a ship in danger. distress-warrant Law a warrant authorizing distraint. in distress
1 suffering or in danger.
2 (of a ship, aircraft, etc.) in danger or damaged.

Derivative

distressful adj. distressingly adv.

Etymology

ME f. OF destresse etc., AF destresser, OF -ecier f. Gallo-Roman (as DISTRAIN)

DEVIL DICTIONARY

Distress

n. A disease incurred by exposure to the prosperity of a friend.

THESAURUS

Distress

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

ROGET THESAURUS

Distress

Taking

N taking, reception, deglutition, appropriation, prehension, prensation, capture, caption, apprehension, deprehension, abreption, seizure, expropriation, abduction, ablation, subtraction, withdrawal, abstraction, ademption, adrolepsy, dispossession, deprivation, deprivement, bereavement, divestment, disherison, distraint, distress, sequestration, confiscation, eviction, rapacity, rapaciousness, extortion, vampirism, theft, resumption, reprise, reprisal, recovery, clutch, swoop, wrench, grip, haul, take, catch, scramble, taker, captor, subduction, taking, privative, prehensile, predaceous, predal, predatory, predatorial, lupine, rapacious, raptorial, ravenous, parasitic, bereft, at one fell swoop, give an inch and take an ell.

Poverty

N poverty, indigence, penury, pauperism, destitution, want, need, neediness, lack, necessity, privation, distress, difficulties, wolf at the door, bad circumstances, poor circumstances, need circumstances, embarrassed circumstances, reduced circumstances, straightened circumstances, slender means, narrow means, straits, hand to mouth existence, res angusta domi, low water, impecuniosity, beggary, mendicancy, mendicity, broken fortune, loss of fortune, insolvency, empty pocket, empty purse, light purse, beggarly account of empty boxes, poor man, pauper, mendicant, mumper, beggar, starveling, pauvre diable, fakir, schnorrer, homeless person, poor, indigent, poverty-stricken, badly off, poorly off, ill off, poor as a rat, poor as a church mouse, poor as a Job, fortuneless, dowerless, moneyless, penniless, unportioned, unmoneyed, impecunious, out of money, out of cash, short of money, short of cash, without a rap, not worth a rap, qui n'a pas le sou, out of pocket, hard up, out at elbows, out at heels, seedy, bare-footed, beggarly, beggared, destitute, fleeced, stripped, bereft, bereaved, reduced, homeless, in want, needy, necessitous, distressed, pinched, straitened, put to one's shifts, put to one's last shifts, unable to keep the wolf from the door, unable to make both ends meet, embarrassed, under hatches, involved, insolvent, in forma pauperis, zonam perdidit, a penniless lass wi' a lang pedigree, a pobreza no hay verguenza, he that is down can fall no lower, poca roba poco pensiero, steeped, in poverty to the very lips, the short and simple annals of the poor.

Pain

N mental suffering, pain, dolor, suffering, sufferance, ache, smart, passion, displeasure, dissatisfaction, discomfort, discomposure, disquiet, malaise, inquietude, uneasiness, vexation of spirit, taking, discontent, dejection, weariness, anhedonia, annoyance, irritation, worry, infliction, visitation, plague, bore, bother, botheration, stew, vexation, mortification, chagrin, esclandre, mauvais quart d'heur, care, anxiety, solicitude, trouble, trial, ordeal, fiery ordeal, shock, blow, cark, dole, fret, burden, load, concern, grief, sorrow, distress, affliction, woe, bitterness, heartache, carking cares, heavy heart, aching heart, bleeding heart, broken heart, heavy affliction, gnawing grief, unhappiness, infelicity, misery, tribulation, wretchedness, desolation, despair, extremity, prostration, depth of misery, nightmare, ephialtes, incubus, pang, anguish, agony, torture, torment, purgatory, hell upon earth, iron age, reign of terror, slough of despond, peck of troubles, ills that flesh is heir to, miseries of human life, unkindest cut of all, sufferer, victim, prey, martyr, object of compassion, wretch, shorn lamb, in pain, in a state of pain, full of pain, suffering, pained, afflicted, worried, displeased, aching, griped, sore, on the rack, in limbo, between hawk and buzzard, uncomfortable, uneasy, ill at ease, in a taking, in a way, disturbed, discontented, out of humor, weary, heavy laden, stricken, crushed, a prey to, victimized, ill-used, unfortunate, to be pitied, doomed, devoted, accursed, undone, lost, stranded, fey, unhappy, infelicitous, poor, wretched, miserable, woe-begone, cheerless, careworn, concerned, sorry, sorrowing, sorrowful, cut up, chagrined, horrified, horror-stricken, in grief, plunged in grief, a prey to grief, in tears, steeped to the lips in misery, heart-stricken, heart-broken, heart-scalded, broken-hearted, in despair, the iron entered into our soul, haeret lateri lethalis arundo, one's heart bleeding, down, thou climbing sorrow, mirth cannot move a soul in agony, nessun maggior dolere che ricordarsi del tempo fel, sorrow's crown of sorrow is remembering happier th, the Niobe of Nations.

Painfulness

VB cause pain, occasion pain, give pain, bring pain, induce pain, produce pain, create pain, inflict pain, pain, hurt, wound, pinch, prick, gripe, pierce, lancinate, cut, hurt the feelings, wound the feelings, grate upon the feelings, grate upon the nerves, jar upon the feelings, wring the heart, pierce the heart, lacerate the heart, break the heart, rend the heart, make the heart bleed, tear the heart strings, rend the heart strings, draw tears from the eyes, sadden, make unhappy, plunge into sorrow, grieve, fash, afflict, distress, cut up, cut to the heart, displease, annoy, incommode, discompose, trouble, disquiet, faze, feaze, feeze, disturb, cross, perplex, molest, tease, tire, irk, vex, mortify, wherret, worry, plague, bother, pester, bore, pother, harass, harry, badger, heckle, bait, beset, infest, persecute, importune, wring, harrow, torment, torture, bullyrag, put to the rack, put to the question, break on the wheel, rack, scarify, cruciate, crucify, convulse, agonize, barb the dart, plant a dagger in the breast, plant a thorn in one's side, irritate, provoke, sting, nettle, try the patience, pique, fret, rile, tweak the nose, chafe, gall, sting to the quick, wound to the quick, cut to the quick, aggrieve, affront, enchafe, enrage, ruffle, sour the temper, give offense, maltreat, bite, snap at, assail, smite, sicken, disgust, revolt, nauseate, disenchant, repel, offend, shock, stink in the nostrils, go against the stomach, turn the stomach, make one sick, set the teeth on edge, go against the grain, grate on the ear, stick in one's throat, stick in one's gizzard, rankle, gnaw, corrode, horrify, appal, appall, freeze the blood, make the flesh creep, make the hair stand on end, make the blood curdle, make the blood run cold, make one shudder, haunt the memory, weigh on the heart, prey on the heart, weigh on the mind, prey on the mind, weigh on the spirits, prey on the spirits, bring one's gray hairs with sorrow to the grave, add a nail to one's coffin.