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 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
- 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
- But you are evidently in sore trouble and distress, so I will not desert you.»
- In Morse code the distress signal SOS is three dots, three dashes, three dots.
- (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.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «distress» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.