distress
1. dis.tress \dis-'tres\ n [ME destresse, fr. OF, fr. (assumed) VL
districtia, fr. L distri]ctus, pp. of distringere 1a: seizure and detention
of the goods of another as pledge or to obtain sa tisfaction of a claim by
the sale of the goods seized; broadly; an act of distraining 1b: the thing
distrained obs 2: CONSTRAINT 3a: anguish of body or mind : TROUBLE 3b:
a painful situation : MISFORTUNE 4: a state of danger or desperate need
state of being in great trouble. DISTRESS implies an external and usu.
temporary cause of great physical or mental strain and stress; SUFFERING
implies conscious endurance of pain or distress and often a stoical
acceptance of it; MISERY stresses the unhappiness attending esp. sickness,
poverty, or loss, and often connotes sordidness, abjectness, or dull
passivity; AGONY suggests pain too intense to be borne SYN syn DISTRESS,
SUFFERING, MISERY, AGONY mean the
2. distress \-in-le-\ vt 1: to subject to great strain or difficulties 2:
to cause to worry or be troubled : UPSET archaic 3: to force or overcome
by inflicting pain - dis.tress.ing.ly av
3. distress aj 1: offered for sale at a sacrifice {~ merchandise} 2:
involving distress goods {a ~ sale}