different between distress vs peril

English

Etymology

The verb is from Middle English distressen, from Old French destrecier (“to restrain, constrain, put in straits, afflict, distress”); compare French détresse. Ultimately from Medieval Latin as if *districtiare, an assumed frequentative form of Latin distringere (“to pull asunder, stretch out”), from dis- (“apart”) + stringere (“to draw tight, strain”).

The noun is from Middle English distresse, from Old French destrece, ultimately also from Latin distringere.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??st??s/
• Rhymes: -?s

Noun

distress (countable and uncountable, plural distresses)

1. (Cause of) discomfort.
   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:distress.
2. Serious danger.
   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:distress.
3. (medicine) An aversive state of stress to which a person cannot fully adapt.
4. (law) A seizing of property without legal process to force payment of a debt.
5. (law) The thing taken by distraining; that which is seized to procure satisfaction.

   • If he were not paid, he would straight go and take a distress of goods and cattle.

   • The distress thus taken must be proportioned to the thing distrained for.

Derived terms

• distress signal

Antonyms

• (maladaptive stress): eustress

Related terms

• distrain
• district

Translations

Verb

distress (third-person singular simple present distresses, present participle distressing, simple past and past participle distressed)

1. To cause strain or anxiety to someone.

   Synonyms: anguish, harrow, trouble, vex, torment, tantalize, tantalise, martyr
2. (law) To retain someone’s property against the payment of a debt; to distrain.

   Synonym: distrain
3. To treat a new object to give it an appearance of age.

   Synonyms: age, antique, patinate

Translations

Further reading

• distress in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• distress in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• distress at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• disserts

English

Etymology

From Middle English peril, from Old French peril, from Latin per?culum. Doublet of periculum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p???l/
• (weak vowel merger) IPA^(key): /?p???l/
• Rhymes: -???l, -???l

Noun

peril (countable and uncountable, plural perils)

1. A situation of serious and immediate danger.
2. Something that causes, contains, or presents danger.

   The perils of the jungle (animals and insects, weather, etc)

3. (insurance) An event which causes a loss, or the risk of a specific such event.

Synonyms

• danger, hazard, jeopardy, risk, threat, wathe
• See also Thesaurus:danger

Derived terms

• yellow peril
• imperil

Related terms

• perilous

Translations

Verb

peril (third-person singular simple present perils, present participle periling or perilling, simple past and past participle periled or perilled)

1. (transitive) To cause to be in danger; to imperil; to risk. [from 16th c.]
   • 1830, Robert Hayne, Speech in the United States Senate:

     And are we, Mr. President, who stood by our country then, who threw open our coffers, who bared our bosoms, who freely perilled all in that conflict, to be reproached with want of attachment to the Union?

   • 1890, Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, ch. XIV:

     "I will have nothing to do with this matter, whatever it is. Do you think I am going to peril my reputation for you?"

Anagrams

• piler, plier, prile

Middle English

Alternative forms

• perile, periil, perel, peryle, pereyl, parelle, peryl, perell, perill, parell, pereil

Etymology

From Old French peril, from Latin per?culum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p?ril/, /p??ri?l/, /?p?r?l/, /?par?l/

Noun

peril (plural perilles)

1. Danger, risk, peril; something that is potentially harmful or risky:
   1. A location where danger, risk, or peril is present or likely.
   2. A thing or enterprise which creates peril; anything which creates or which is of peril.
   3. Sinfulness; religious threat or danger.
2. (Late Middle English) Bad fortune; unluckiness or mischance.

Related terms

• perilous
• perilously

Descendants

• English: peril
• Scots: peril

References

• “per??l, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-15.

Old French

Etymology

From Latin per?culum.

Noun

peril m (oblique plural periz or perilz, nominative singular periz or perilz, nominative plural peril)

1. peril; hazard; danger

Descendants

• ? Middle English: peril
  • English: peril
  • Scots: peril
• French: péril
• Norman: péthi (Jersey)