Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Causing or experiencing distress.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Inflicting or bringing distress; distressing; calamitous: as, a distressful event.
  • Indicating distress; proceeding from pain or anguish: as, distressful cries.
  • Attended with poverty or misery; gained by severe or painful toil.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Full of distress; causing, indicating, or attended with, distress.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Causing or having distress, strain, or anxiety.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective causing distress or worry or anxiety

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • "No, no," he exclaimed in distressful tones, "I cannot have that, but you must leave us.

    Folk Tales From Many Lands 1910

  • The reformation of abuses and the relief of misery were the great purposes which quickened his every thought, and strained every nerve; and the tear of sensibility started in his eyes on recalling the distressful scenes to which he had been witness, and the spirit of indignation flashed from them at the recollection of baseness and oppression.

    "The Life and Character of John Howard," Senior Speech of Richard T. Weaver, April 1846 1846

  • Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe Wednesday called for solutions to the "distressful" problems of food shortages within the country, state television reported.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2002

  • By mistake the "distressful" orator had put one ten-pound note into his parcel!

    Ireland Under Coercion (2nd ed.) (2 of 2) (1888) William Henry Hurlbert 1861

  • If you find my use of a blog name 'distressful', then you're just too easily distressed.

    RealClimate 2009

  • If you find my use of a blog name 'distressful', then you're just too easily distressed.

    RealClimate 2009

  • If you find my use of a blog name 'distressful', then you're just too easily distressed.

    RealClimate 2009

  • If you find my use of a blog name 'distressful', then you're just too easily distressed.

    RealClimate 2009

  • If you find my use of a blog name 'distressful', then you're just too easily distressed.

    RealClimate 2009

  • If you find my use of a blog name 'distressful', then you're just too easily distressed.

    RealClimate 2009

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