different between distress vs tension

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

Borrowed from Middle French tension, from Latin tensi?, tensi?nem.

Pronunciation

• enPR: t?n?-sh?n, IPA^(key): /?t?n??n/
• Rhymes: -?n??n
• Hyphenation: ten?sion

Noun

tension (countable and uncountable, plural tensions)

1. The condition of being held in a state between two or more forces, which are acting in opposition to each other.
2. Psychological state of being tense.
3. A feeling of nervousness, excitement, or fear that is created in a movie, book, etc.; suspense.
4. (physics, engineering) State of an elastic object which is stretched in a way which increases its length.
5. (physics, engineering) Force transmitted through a rope, string, cable, or similar object (used with prepositions on, in, or of, e.g., "The tension in the cable is 1000 N", to convey that the same magnitude of force applies to objects attached to both ends).
6. (physics, engineering) Voltage. Usually only the terms low tension, high tension, and extra-high tension, and the abbreviations LT, HT, and EHT are used. They are not precisely defined; LT is normally a few volts, HT a few hundreds of volts, and EHT thousands of volts.

Derived terms

Related terms

• tensile

Translations

Verb

tension (third-person singular simple present tensions, present participle tensioning, simple past and past participle tensioned)

1. To place an object in tension, to pull or place strain on.

Translations

Anagrams

• Sonnite, intones, neonist, noneist, sention

Esperanto

Noun

tension

1. accusative singular of tensio

Finnish

Noun

tension

1. Genitive singular form of tensio.

Anagrams

• onnesti

French

Etymology

From Middle French tension, borrowed from Latin tensi?, tensi?nem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t??.sj??/

Noun

tension f (plural tensions)

1. tension
2. blood pressure

3. voltage

Derived terms

Related terms

• tendre

Descendants

• ? Romanian: tensiune

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• entions, tenions

Occitan

Pronunciation

Noun

tension f (plural tensions)

1. tension