# distress

> English word · Noun · IPA /dɪˈstɹɛs/ · frequency rank #7,675

## Definitions
1. Physical or emotional discomfort, suffering, or alarm, particularly of a more acute nature.
2. A cause of such discomfort.
3. Serious danger.
4. An aversive state of stress to which a person cannot fully adapt.
5. A seizing of property without legal process to force payment of a debt.
6. The thing taken by distraining; that which is seized to procure satisfaction.

## Etymology
The verb is from Middle English distressen, from Old French destrecier (“to restrain, constrain, put in straits, afflict, distress”); compare French détresse. Ultimately from Medieval Latin as if *districtiō, an assumed frequentative form of Latin distringō (“to pull asunder, stretch out”), from dis- (“apart”) + stringō (“to draw tight, strain”).
The noun is from Middle English distresse, from Old French destrece, ultimately also from Latin distringō.

## Easily confused with
- **distrust** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/distress-vs-distrust)
- **distressed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/distress-vs-distressed)
- **digress** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/digress-vs-distress)

## Common misspellings (11)
`ddistress`, `disrtess`, `disstress`, `disterss`, `distres`, `distrress`, `distrses`, `disttress`, `ditsress`, `dsitress`, `idstress`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/distress