How to use distress in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Distress means physical or emotional discomfort, suffering, or alarm, particularly of a more acute nature. Example: “She distressed the new media cabinet so that it fit with the other furniture in the room.”

Examples of distress by meaning

nounPhysical or emotional discomfort, suffering, or alarm, particularly of a more acute nature.

At any other time Jessamy would have laughed at the expressions that chased each other over his freckled face: crossness left over from his struggle with the baby; incredulity; distress; and finally delight.1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 122

nounSerious danger.

a ship in distress

verbTo treat a new object to give it an appearance of age.

a pair of distressed jeans
She distressed the new media cabinet so that it fit with the other furniture in the room.
If you don't want to be considered a dude you should distress your binoculars in the way that antique dealers distress new paintings to make them look old.1980, Bill Oddie, Bill Oddie's Little Black Bird Book, page 58

More sentences with distress

The details of the ordeal can be distressing to some readers.From the entry distressing
Ruth knew that the whiteheads of her teenage acne were a temporary state of affairs, but that did nothing to quell her distress when an eruption hit just before prom.From the entry whitehead
It held that subjective distress alone does not constitute legal harm.2026 July 6, Massimo Introvigne, “Global Anti-Cultism and the Return of “Brainwashing” Theories”, in Bitter Winter. From the entry methodologically
And this news is so distressing that some fans are threatening to unstan him.2019 September 16, Shannon Barbour, “Noah Centineo Just Bleached His Beard and It’s Literally Making His Fans Unstan”, in Cosmopolitan. From the entry unstan
Moments before she died, Dayse Ricarte, 28, spoke in distress to a friend on camera.2018 July 17, Richard Hartley-Parkinson, “Drug mule records distressing video after cocaine capsule explodes inside her”, in Metro. From the entry Dayse
We measured the duration, interelement interval, peak frequency and bandwidth of echolocation pulses and distress syllables.2015 July 17, “Situational and Age-Dependent Decision Making during Life Threatening Distress in Myotis macrodactylus”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI. From the entry interelement
In times of severe economic distress, however, rates may fall to zero.2012 July 14, “Quantitative easing: QE, or not QE?”, in The Economist, archived from the original on 19 Jan 2022. From the entry QE
However, teasing about serious matters may be distressing for the teasee.2012, Jean Mercer, Child Development, page 192. From the entry teasee
Quiet, ordered lives in which nothing could be more distressing than to get rained on.2011, Aleks Sierz, Rewriting the Nation: British Theatre Today, London: Methuen Drama, A & C Black Publishers, →ISBN, page 212. From the entry armful
Then I heard clear your mother's voice, crying out in distress!2009, Stephen James Shore, Annalea A Princess in Exile, page 160. From the entry clear
The Nieuport saw him and came to help his comrade in distress.2009, Johannes Werner, Knight of Germany: Oswald Boelcke German Ace, page 194. From the entry dust up
First, as indicated already, negative utilitarians seek to minimize the sum total of distress.2008, Roger Brownsword, Rights, Regulation, and the Technological Revolution, Oxford, Oxon: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 54. From the entry negative utilitarian
His inconsolable better half has to spend the whole of her time during this distressing grass-widowhood here.2007, Choderlos de Laclos, translated by Helen Constantine, Dangerous Liaisons, Penguin, page 17. From the entry grass widowhood
Victims of cyberstalking experience increased psychological distress compared to stalking victims in general.2007, Debra A. Pinals, Stalking : Psychiatric Perspectives and Practical Approaches, →ISBN, page 219. From the entry cyberstalking
An infant has only cries and coos with which to communicate distress and well-being.2001, Denton L. Roberts, Caddy Roberts-Williams, “What You Need to Know to Be Useful”, in Living as Healer: (Everyone Does Therapy and…. From the entry coo
Scatolia is not uncommon among dementia sufferers, and is very distressing to their carers.2000, Alan Jacques, Graham A. Jackson, Understanding Dementia, page 170. From the entry scatolia
Struhsaker has recorded at least five different distress calls by infant vervets related to mother-infant separation.1983, William C. Stebbins, The Acoustic Sense of Animals, page 140. From the entry rrah
The self may enact its distress as well as explain it, but the enactment can be misconstrued.1982, David C. Taylor, “The Components of Sickness: Diseases, Illnesses and Predicaments”, in John Apley, Christopher Ounsted, editors…. From the entry rôle-playing
The infant whose heart is decompensating has a rapid pulse, rapid respirations, and respiratory distress.1967, Virginia Pidgeon, “The Infant with Congenital Heart Disease”, in The American Journal of Nursing, volume 67, number 2, page 291. From the entry decompensate
No one in the orchestra was really in much distress, though.1964 April 10, Jack Moore, “Doukhobors make music; Doukhobors oand^([sic]) borscht”, in The Province, 67th year, number 13, Vancouver…. From the entry lapshevnik
They are a great distress to herself, and she unable to come out after them.'1929, Elizabeth Bowen, chapter VIII, in The Last September, London: Jonathan Cape […], published 1960, →OCLC, part 1 (The Arrival of Mr. &…. From the entry stravaig
It was very distressing to him, this dispersal of the family heirlooms.1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards…. From the entry accentuation
Abdominal hernia noticed (diastasis recti) coincidentally with exacerbation of abdominal and cerebral distress, requiring occasional narcotic.1922 November, Henry J. Wolf, “Report and critical analysis of a long-standing case of intestinal spacticity, with observations on the…. From the entry diastasis recti
Sporadic cases of this distressing disease are always about and epidemics occur from time to time.1921 July 21, L.C. Barnes, “Antidotes for Romaphobia”, in The Watchman-Examiner: A National Baptist Paper, volume 9, number 29, page 919. From the entry Romaphobia
Her death was a shock and a distress, but she would not be passionately regretted.1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 36. From the entry command
That individual effort is needed to free the world from its misery and distress.1919, Charles Gerard Conn, For the Good of the World, Finding the Real God, G. Rice & Sons, page 151. From the entry self-regeneration
John Stoem, during this time of nerve-rack and distress for Murchison, was thinking of quite other things.1916, George Allan England, The Golden Blight, page 44. From the entry nerve-rack
“Oh, you mustn’t dream of going home without your tea,” cried Anne in distress.1908, L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables. From the entry lunch
But now I am, as you see, in real and very sore distress.1905–1906, Arthur Conan Doyle, “How Nigel Went Marketing to Guildford”, in Sir Nigel, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], published January…. From the entry ruth
It's simply this: When we take joy in the distress and ruination of other people, we make monsters of ourselves.2025 July 21, Kat Rosenfield, “The Coldplay Couple Did Something Bad. The Internet Did Something Worse.”, in The Free Press. From the entry sidepiece
Photojournalists also dealt with “moral injury,” long-term psychological distress that comes from witnessing actions that violated their moral beliefs.2025 April 29, Damien Cave, “How Photography From the Vietnam War Changed America”, in The New York Times, →ISSN. From the entry moral injury
Unlike burnout, moral distress isn’t primarily exhaustion.2025 May 3, Dr. Jenny Shields, “DSM-5 doesn’t name it, but moral distress is everywhere in medicine”, in KevinMD. From the entry moral distress
Instead, moral distress arises from an unspoken, collective agreement to pretend things are fine when they’re clearly not.2025 May 3, Dr. Jenny Shields, “DSM-5 doesn’t name it, but moral distress is everywhere in medicine”, in KevinMD. From the entry moral distress
CK Asset will pounce when it spots rivals in distress.2023 August 13, Shuli Ren, “‘Superman’ Tests Hong Kong’s Stressed Property Market”, in The Washington Post, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from…. From the entry Ap Lei Chau
This was a performance from Maguire that was sending out distress signals from pretty much the first whistle.2020 October 14, Phil McNulty, “England 0-1 Denmark: 'Harry Maguire looked devoid of confidence in Nations League loss'”, in BBC Sport. From the entry distress signal

Meaning of distress

noun Physical or emotional discomfort, suffering, or alarm, particularly of a more acute nature.
noun A cause of such discomfort.
noun Serious danger.

Full definition of distress

Questions about distress in a sentence

How do you use distress in a sentence?: Distress is used as a noun and verb. For example: “She distressed the new media cabinet so that it fit with the other furniture in the room.”
What is a short sentence with distress?: “a ship in distress”
What does distress mean?: Distress means physical or emotional discomfort, suffering, or alarm, particularly of a more acute nature.

Adapted from Wiktionary: distress (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use distress in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/distress. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.