distress Definition

distress
noun

1. Mental or emotional pain.

Thesaurus: worry, trouble, grief, anxiety, pain, suffering, misery, suffering, anguish, sorrow, wretchedness; Antonym: ease.
2. Financial difficulty; hardship.
3. Great danger; peril.

Example: a ship in distress
Thesaurus: misfortune, catastrophe, disaster, calamity, adversity, trouble, trial.

verb distresses, distressed, distressing

1. To cause distress to someone; to upset someone.

Thesaurus: trouble, pain, torment, upset, disturb, bother, harass, grieve, sadden, afflict, worry, wound; Antonym: assist, comfort.
2. To give (fabric, furniture, etc) the appearance of being older than it is.

Derivative: distressed
adj

Derivative: distressing
adj

Etymology: 13c as destresse: from French destresse.