Definitions
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun the quality of causing mental anguish.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The state or quality of being
distressful ; the state of having or causinganxiety orstrain .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the quality of arousing fear or distress
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Whirra, whose hasty, impetuous career had to be compassionately ended with a bullet, because of the distressfulness of prolonged attacks of heat apoplexy.
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And therewith the distressfulness of her face which had worn Ralph's heart while she had been telling her tale changed, and she came, as it were, into her new life and the love of him again, and she kissed him and laid her cheek to his and he kissed her mouth.
The Well at the World's End: a tale William Morris 1865
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However, in spite of the distressfulness of the foregoing possibilities, it is time that I returned to my hero.
Dead Souls 1842
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