# duress

> English word · Noun · IPA /djʊˈɹɛs/ · frequency rank #28,178

## Definitions
1. Harsh treatment.
2. Constraint by threat.
3. Restraint in which a person is influenced, whether by lawful or unlawful forceful compulsion of their liberty by monition or implementation of physical enforcement; legally for the incurring of civil liability, of a citizen's arrest, or of subrogation, or illegally for the committing of an offense, of forcing a contract, or of using threats.

## Etymology
Borrowed into Middle English from Old French duresse, from Latin duritia (“hardness”), from durus (“hard”).

## Easily confused with
- **durst** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/duress-vs-durst)
- **dues** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dues-vs-duress)
- **dress** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dress-vs-duress)
- **dudes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dudes-vs-duress)
- **dares** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dares-vs-duress)
- **dregs** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dregs-vs-duress)
- **duchess** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/duchess-vs-duress)
- **depress** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/depress-vs-duress)
- **digress** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/digress-vs-duress)

## Common misspellings (7)
`dduress`, `druess`, `duerss`, `dures`, `durress`, `durses`, `udress`

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