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distress - Meaning and Examples

Meaning of 'distress' (Webster Dictionary)

1 . Distress [ n.]
- Extreme pain or suffering; anguish of body or mind; as, to suffer distress from the gout, or from the loss of friends.
- That which occasions suffering; painful situation; misfortune; affliction; misery.
- A state of danger or necessity; as, a ship in distress, from leaking, loss of spars, want of provisions or water, etc.
- The act of distraining; the taking of a personal chattel out of the possession of a wrongdoer, by way of pledge for redress of an injury, or for the performance of a duty, as for nonpayment of rent or taxes, or for injury done by cattle, etc.
- The thing taken by distraining; that which is seized to procure satisfaction.
- To cause pain or anguish to; to pain; to oppress with calamity; to afflict; to harass; to make miserable.
- To compel by pain or suffering.
- To seize for debt; to distrain.

Meaning of 'distress' (Princeton's WordNet)

1 . distress [ n]
Meaning (1):
- a state of adversity (danger or affliction or need)
Example in sentence:
  • a ship in distress;
  • she was the classic maiden in distress
Meaning (2):
- the seizure and holding of property as security for payment of a debt or satisfaction of a claim
Example in sentence:
  • Originally distress was a landlord's remedy against a tenant for unpaid rents or property damage but now the landlord is given a landlord's lien
Meaning (3):
- psychological suffering
Example in sentence:
  • the death of his wife caused him great distress
Meaning (4):
- extreme physical pain
Example in sentence:
  • the patient appeared to be in distress
5 . distress [ v]
Meaning (5):
- cause mental pain to
Example in sentence:
  • The news of her child's illness distressed the mother

Nearby Words:

dis dis- disabilities disability disable disabled disablement disabling disabuse disabused

See 'distress' also in:

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Related Definitions

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    Financial distress point is the point when a firm is at its minimum cash flow, a cash flow sufficient to make debt-service payments in order for it to continue to operate.
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    Distressed person is an individual who requires search and rescue assistance to remove he or she from life-threatening or isolating circumstances in a permissive environment.
  • Financial distress
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