distress
part of speech
noun (distress; uncountable mostly); verb (distress, distresses, distressed, distressing)
meaning for a pupil
1) Great worry, sadness or pain. tree →
2) A situation of danger where help is badly needed: «a ship in distress». tree →
3) (verb) To make someone very worried or upset. tree →
4) (verb) To make furniture or clothes look old on purpose: «distressed jeans». tree →
sense in the lessons
In the Tanakh and Jewish tradition: In the Torah it often means a time of danger or trouble, when a person turns to God. Interpretation: Tradition reads Moses' words in Deuteronomy as saying that Israel can always return to God in trouble, and that return (teshuvah) is always open. In the primary lessons: In safety lessons: a «distress signal» (like a flare or SOS) calls for help; animals or people «in distress» need help from an adult or emergency services. In stories it shows a character is very upset or in danger: «a damsel in distress». Phrases: «in distress», «distress call», «distress signal», «cause distress», «emotional distress».
examples
- In thy distress, when all these things are come upon thee, in the end of days, thou wilt return to the LORD thy God, and hearken unto His voice; (Torah DEU.4.30, JPS 1917) tree →
- and let us arise, and go up to Beth-el; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.' (Torah GEN.35.3, JPS 1917) tree →
- And they said one to another: 'We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.' (Torah GEN.42.21, JPS 1917) tree →
- Nevertheless He looked upon their distress, when He heard their cry; (Writings PSA.106.44, JPS 1917) tree →
- In my distress I called unto the LORD, and He answered me. (Writings PSA.120.1, JPS 1917) tree →
- The troubles of my heart are enlarged; O bring Thou me out of my distresses. (Writings PSA.25.17, JPS 1917) tree →
- The ship sent out a distress signal. tree →
- The puppy whimpered in distress. tree →
- Her tears showed her distress. tree →
- Seeing the injured bird distressed the children. tree →
- Lifeguards help swimmers in distress. tree →
- The news caused great distress to the family. tree →
- The jeans are distressed to look old. tree →
- Her evident distress caused the sly Fox much amusement. tree →
note
Double s at the end. Adjective: «distressed» (upset, or made to look old) and «distressing» (causing upset). Safety: if you see someone in distress, tell an adult or call emergency services (999 UK/Ireland, 911 US/Canada, 000 Australia, 111 NZ).
In the corpora
- (32-8) Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed.
- Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress.'
- or look unto the earth, behold distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish, and outspread thick darkness.
- The troubles of my heart are enlarged; O bring Thou me out of my distresses.
- Which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken, when I was in distress.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «distress» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.