Definizione monolingua

distress

distress (third-person singular simple present distresses, present participle distressing, simple past and past participle distressed)

1. To cause strain or anxiety to someone.
   • 1827, Stendhal, chapter 31, Armance^[4]:

     She respects me, no doubt, but has no longer any passionate feeling for me, and my death will distress her without plunging her in despair.

2. (law) To retain someone’s property against the payment of a debt; to distrain.
   • 1894, James Kent; William Hardcastle Browne, Commentaries on American Law, page 645:

     This power of distress, as anciently used, became as oppressive as the feudal forfeiture. It was as hard for the tenant to be stripped in an instant of all his goods, for arrears of rent, as to be turned out of the possession of his farm.

3. To treat an object, such as an antique, to give it an appearance of age.

   She distressed the new media cabinet so that it fit with the other furniture in the room.

distress (uncountable)

1. (Cause of) discomfort.
   • 1833, John Trusler, chapter 8, The Works of William Hogarth: In a Series of Engravings^[1]:

     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.

2. Serious danger.
   • 1719, Daniel Defoe, chapter 13, Robinson Crusoe^[2]:

     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.

   • 1759, Voltaire, chapter 42, Candide^[3]:

     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.

3. (law) A seizing of property without legal process to force payment of a debt.

Definizione dizionario distress

dolore

angoscia

addolorare

affliggere

afflizione

afflìggere

angosciare

angustiare

bisogno

indigenza

infestare

paura

pena

penuria

pericolo

punizione

rammarico

sofferenza

spossatezza

stress

sventura

travaglio

Altri significati:

serious danger

To treat an object, such as an antique, to give it an appearance of age.

(law) To retain someone’s property against the payment of a debt; to distrain.

Serious danger.

An unpleasant, usually localized physical sensation that is often the result of an injury, disease or other ailment.

(Cause of) discomfort.

(law) A seizing of property without legal process to force payment of a debt.

To cause strain or anxiety to someone.

(cause of) discomfort

trouble(s)