different between distress vs pester

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

In the senses of “overcrowd (a place)” and “impede (a person)”: from Middle French and Old French empestrer (“encumber”), influenced by English pest. The modern sense is an extension of the sense “infest”. Comparable to English construction pest + -er (used to form frequentative verbs).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?p?st?(?)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?p?st?/, [?p??st?]
• Rhymes: -?st?(?)

Verb

pester (third-person singular simple present pesters, present participle pestering, simple past and past participle pestered)

1. (transitive) To bother, harass, or annoy persistently.
2. (obsolete, transitive and intransitive) To crowd together thickly.

Synonyms

• badger
• bug
• hound

Derived terms

• bepester
• pester power
• pesterer
• pestery

Related terms

• pest

Translations

Noun

pester (plural pesters)

1. A bother or nuisance.

Anagrams

• Peters, Pretes, pestre, peters, pre-set, preset, serpet

Dutch

Etymology

From pesten +? -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p?s.t?r/
• Hyphenation: pes?ter

Noun

pester m (plural pesters, diminutive pestertje n)

1. A person who bullies or pesters somebody.

Related terms

• pesten, pesterij

Synonyms

• pestkop

Anagrams

• perste, preest, preste, streep

French

Etymology

From peste +? -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?s.te/

Verb

pester

1. to rant, curse, fulminate

Conjugation

Further reading

• “pester” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• pertes, prêtes, prêtés

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

pester m or f

1. indefinite plural of pest

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• pestar

Noun

pester m or f

1. indefinite feminine plural of pest

Slovene

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *p?str? (“variegated”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pè?st?r/

Adjective

p??st?r (comparative p??strejši, superlative n?jp??strejši)

1. colourful, variegated

Inflection

Further reading

• “pester”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran