different between distress vs terror

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

Alternative forms

• terrour (obsolete or hypercorrect)

Etymology

From late Middle English terrour, from Old French terreur (“terror, fear, dread”), from Latin terror (“fright, fear, terror”), from terr?re (“to frighten, terrify”), from Proto-Indo-European *tre- (“to shake”), *tres- (“to tremble”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?t???/, in some accents IPA^(key): /?t??/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?t???/
• Rhymes: -???(?), -??(?)
• Hyphenation: ter?ror
• Homophones: tare, tear (some American accents)
• Homophones: terra, Terra (non-rhotic accents)

Noun

terror (countable and uncountable, plural terrors)

1. (countable, uncountable) Intense dread, fright, or fear.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:fear

   • 1794, William Godwin, Things as they are; or, The adventures of Caleb

     The terrors with which I was seized […] were extreme.
2. (uncountable) The action or quality of causing dread; terribleness, especially such qualities in narrative fiction.
   • 1921, Edith Birkhead, The tale of terror: a study of the Gothic romance
3. (countable) Something or someone that causes such fear.
   • 1841, Ralph Waldo Emerson

     The terrors of the storm
4. (uncountable) terrorism

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

• alarm
• fright
• consternation
• dread
• dismay

References

• terror at OneLook Dictionary Search
• terror in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• terror in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• terror in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• rorter

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin terror, terrorem.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /t??ro/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /te?ro?/

Noun

terror m or f (plural terrors)

1. terror, horror

Danish

Noun

terror c (singular definite terroren, not used in plural form)

1. terror

References

• “terror” in Den Danske Ordbog

Galician

Etymology

From Latin terror.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [t??ro?]

Noun

terror m (plural terrores)

1. terror

   Synonyms: espanto, horror, pavor

Related terms

References

• “terror” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006-2016.
• “terror” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006-2013.
• “terror” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.

Hungarian

Etymology

Borrowed from English terror, from Latin terror.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?t?r?or]
• Hyphenation: ter?ror
• Rhymes: -or

Noun

terror (plural terrorok)

1. terror (especially the action or quality of causing dread)

   Synonym: megfélemlítés

Declension

Derived terms

• terrortámadás

References

Further reading

• terror in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh: A magyar nyelv értelmez? szótára (’The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: ?ISBN

Latin

Etymology

From terre? (“frighten, terrify”) +? -or.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?ter.ror/, [?t??r??r]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?ter.ror/, [?t??r??r]

Noun

terror m (genitive terr?ris); third declension

1. a dread, terror, great fear, alarm, panic
2. an object of fear or dread

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Related terms

Descendants

References

• terror in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• terror in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book?^[3], London: Macmillan and Co.

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Borrowed from English terror, from Latin terror.

Noun

terror m (definite singular terroren, uncountable)

1. terror

Derived terms

• terrorangrep
• terrorhandling
• terrorregime

References

• “terror” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Borrowed from English terror, from Latin terror.

Noun

terror m (definite singular terroren, uncountable)

1. terror

Derived terms

• terrorhandling
• terrorregime

References

• “terror” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Polish

Etymology

From English terror, from Old French terreur (“terror, fear, dread”), from Latin terror (“fright, fear, terror”), from terr?re (“to frighten, terrify”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?t?.rr?r/

Noun

terror m inan

1. (politics) terror (policy of political repression and violence intended to subdue political opposition)

Declension

Derived terms

• (verbs) terroryzowa?, strerroryzowa?
• (nouns) terrorysta, terrortystka, terroryzm
• (adjective) terrorystyczny
• (adverb) terrorystycznie

Further reading

• terror in Wielki s?ownik j?zyka polskiego, Instytut J?zyka Polskiego PAN
• terror in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin terror, terrorem.

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /t?.??o?/
• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /te.??o?/

Noun

terror m (plural terrores)

1. terror (intense fear)
   • 2003, J. K. Rowling, Lya Wyler, Harry Potter e a Ordem da Fênix, Rocco, page 493:

     Os olhos do elfo se arregalavam de terror e ele tremia.

2. (Brazil, slang) a very troublesome person or thing

   Você é um terror, garoto! - You're naughty, boy!

   Esses bandidos são um terror - Those criminals are terrible!

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:terror.

Derived terms

• aterrorizar
• terrorismo
• terrorista

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin terror, terrorem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /te?ro?/, [t?e?ro?]

Noun

terror m (plural terrores)

1. horror (genre)
2. terror

Derived terms

Related terms

• terrible

Further reading

• “terror” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

Swedish

Noun

terror c

1. terror

Declension

Related terms

• terrordåd
• terrorhandling
• terrorism
• terrorist