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HOW TO PRONOUNCE

distress

/dɪˈstɹɛs/

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American Pronunciation Guide · 1:03
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What does distress mean?

noun

  1. Physical or emotional discomfort, suffering, or alarm, particularly of a more acute nature.
  2. A cause of such discomfort.
  3. Serious danger.
More meanings (6)

noun

  1. An aversive state of stress to which a person cannot fully adapt.
  2. A seizing of property without legal process to force payment of a debt.
  3. The thing taken by distraining; that which is seized to procure satisfaction.

verb

  1. To cause strain or anxiety to someone.
  2. To retain someone’s property against the payment of a debt; to distrain.
  3. To treat a new object to give it an appearance of age.

Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0

IPA pronunciation

/dɪˈstɹɛs/

CMU Pronouncing Dictionary

Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.

In the pages of books

See this word in context.

His conscience could not endure any more of Amy’s grateful happiness, and his jealousy could bear no more of the other distress.
Mark TwainThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer, CompleteProject Gutenberg ebook #74
The Templar hesitated, and a resolution which had never yielded to pity or distress, gave way to his admiration of her fortitude.
Walter ScottIvanhoe: A RomanceProject Gutenberg ebook #82
More book examples (3)
I caught a glimpse of Dr. Armstrong within, his shoulders bowed, his head sunk on his hands, the very image of distress.
Arthur Conan DoyleThe Return of Sherlock HolmesProject Gutenberg ebook #108
Now in this place Christian had double sorrow, because it was through his unadvised counsel that they were brought into this distress.
John BunyanThe Pilgrim's Progress from this world to that which is to come Delivered under the similitude of a dream, by John BunyanProject Gutenberg ebook #131
In less than a year the Bishop had become the treasurer of all benevolence and the cashier of all those in distress.
Victor HugoLes MisérablesTranslated by Isabel Florence HapgoodProject Gutenberg ebook #135