What is distress?

  • (noun): The seizure and holding of property as security for payment of a debt or satisfaction of a claim.
    Example: "Originally distress was a landloard's remedy against a tenant for unpaid rents or property damage but now the landlord is given a landlord's lien"
    Synonyms: distraint
    See also — Additional definitions below

More definitions of "distress":

  • (noun): A state of adversity (danger or affliction or need).
    Example: "A ship in distress"; "she was the classic maiden in distress"
  • (verb): Cause mental pain to.
    Example: "The news of her child's illness distressed the mother"
  • (noun): Extreme physical pain.
    Example: "The patient appeared to be in distress"
  • (noun): Psychological suffering.
    Example: "The death of his wife caused him great distress"
    Synonyms: hurt, suffering

Famous quotes containing the word distress:

    “All great movements are popular movements. They are the volcanic eruptions of human passions and emotions, stirred into activity by the ruthless Goddess of Distress or by the torch of the spoken word cast into the midst of the people.”
    —Adolf Hitler (1889–1945)

    “The basis of successful relief in national distress is to mobilize and organize the infinite number of agencies of self help in the community. That has been the American way.”
    —Herbert Hoover (1874–1964)