Dictionary
dis•tress
Pronunciation: (di-stres'), [key]—
n.
1. great pain, anxiety, or sorrow; acute physical or mental suffering; affliction; trouble.
2. a state of extreme necessity or misfortune.
3. the state of a ship or airplane requiring immediate assistance, as when on fire in transit.
4. that which causes pain, suffering, trouble, danger, etc.
5. liability or exposure to pain, suffering, trouble, etc.; danger:
a damsel in distress.
6. Law.
a. the legal seizure and detention of the goods of another as security or satisfaction for debt, etc.; the act of distraining.
b. the thing seized in distraining.
7. to dent, scratch, or stain (furniture, lumber, or the like) so as to give an appearance of age.
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adj.
1. afflicted with or suffering distress:
distress livestock; distress wheat.
2. caused by or indicative of distress or hardship:
distress prices; distress borrowing.
—
v.t.
1. to afflict with great pain, anxiety, or sorrow; trouble; worry; bother.
2. to subject to pressure, stress, or strain; embarrass or exhaust by strain:
to be distressed by excessive work.
3. to compel by pain or force of circumstances:
His suffering distressed him into committing suicide. Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
