What Is Distress? Definition And Usage Of This Term
WHAT IS DISTRESS – In this topic, we are going to know and learn the definition of this term and how is this term used in sentences.
Definition
The Oxford Dictionary defines the term as the following:
- extreme anxiety, sorrow, or pain.
- the state of a ship or aircraft when in danger or difficulty and needing help.
- suffering caused by lack of money or the basic necessities of life.
- a state of physical strain, exhaustion, or, in particular, breathing difficulty.
- another term for distraint.
- cause (someone) anxiety, sorrow, or pain.
- give (furniture, leather, or clothing) simulated marks of age and wear.
Meanwhile, the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines this term as the following:
- seizure and detention of the goods of another as pledge or to obtain satisfaction of a claim by the sale of the goods seized
- something that is distrained
- pain or suffering affecting the body, a bodily part, or the mind
- a painful situation
- a state of danger or desperate need
- to subject to great strain or difficulties
- to force or overcome by inflicting pain
- to cause to worry or be troubled
- to mar (something, such as clothing or wood) deliberately to give an effect of age
Synonyms
Here are some of the following synonyms:
- anguish
- suffering
- pain
- agony
- ache
- affliction
- torment
- torture
- danger
- peril
- difficulty
- trouble
- jeopardy
- risk
- hazard
Etymology
It is a Middle English term, which is from the Old French term destresce or destrecier, which is based on the Latin term distringere or ‘stretch apart’.
Examples
Here are some examples of the usage of this term:
- Actually the French at this moment were suffering the most terrible distress – up to the Danube they had still found sufficient food for existence, but south of it, in the track of the Austrians, they found nothing.
- After a period of great distress and cruel oppression, in 1866, on the demand for reforms being again refused, a general insurrection took place, which was only put down by great exertions on the part of the Porte.
- Despite his anger, he felt the urge to touch her, to cradle her in his arms until her distress subsided.
- After a period of great distress and cruel oppression, in 1866, on the demand for reforms being again refused, a general insurrection took place, which was only put down by great exertions on the part of the Porte.
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