distress

What it means

1. countableuncountablePhysical or emotional discomfort, suffering, or alarm, particularly of a more acute nature.

   At any other time Jessamy would have laughed at the expressions that chased each other over his freckled face: crossness left over from his struggle with the baby; incredulity; distress; and finally delight.

   1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 122

   1 more example

   To heighten his distress, he is approached by his wife, and bitterly upbraided for his perfidy in concealing from her his former connexions (with that unhappy girl who is here present with her child, the innocent offspring of her amours, fainting at the sight of his misfortunes, being unable to relieve him farther), and plunging her into those difficulties she never shall be able to surmount.

   1833, John Trusler, chapter 8, in The Works of William Hogarth: In a Series of Engravings, archived from the original on 04 Nov 2011

   Synonyms: anguish, torment

2. countableuncountableA cause of such discomfort.

   Synonyms: hardship, sorrow, affliction, aggrievance, grief, grievance, hardship, misery

3. countableuncountableSerious danger.

   a ship in distress

   2 more examples

   I immediately considered that this must be some ship in distress, and that they had some comrade, or some other ship in company, and fired these gun for signals of distress, and to obtain help.

   1719, Daniel Defoe, chapter 13, in Robinson Crusoe, archived from the original on 15 Apr 2012

   At length they perceived a little cottage; two persons in the decline of life dwelt in this desert, who were always ready to give every assistance in their power to their fellow-creatures in distress.

   1759, Voltaire, chapter 42, in Candide, archived from the original on 17 Mar 2011

   Synonyms: jeopardy, peril, adventure, danger, harm's way, peril, jeopardy, extremity

In a sentence

To heighten his distress, he is approached by his wife, and bitterly upbraided for his perfidy in concealing from her his former connexions (with that unhappy girl who is here present with her child, the innocent offspring of her amours, fainting at the sight of his misfortunes, being unable to relieve him farther), and plunging her into those difficulties she never shall be able to surmount.

1833, John Trusler, chapter 8, in The Works of William Hogarth: In a Series of Engravings, archived from the original on 04 Nov 2011

Where it comes from

1. Latindistringō
2. Old Frenchdestrece
3. Middle Englishdistresse
4. Latindistringō“to pull asunder, stretch out”
5. Old Frenchdestrecier“to restrain, constrain, put in straits, afflict, distress”
6. Middle Englishdistressen
7. Englishdistress

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.