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distressful. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
distressful, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
distressful in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology
From distress + -ful.
Adjective
distressful (comparative more distressful, superlative most distressful)
- Causing or feeling distress, anxiety, or strain; distressing.
1764 December 19 (indicated as 1765), Oliver Goldsmith, The Traveller, or A Prospect of Society. A Poem. , London: J Newbery, , →OCLC, page 21:There, vvhile above the giddy tempeſt flies, / And all around diſtreſsful yells ariſe, / The penſive exile, bending vvith his vvoe, / To ſtop too fearful, and too faint to go.
1827, Lydia Sigourney, Poems, On the Death of John Adams, pages 191-192:Once more, that fulness of prophetic joy, / With which this unborn Jubilee he mark'd / Through the long vista of distressful years, / While the dark war-clouds gathering at his feet / Involved the scene.
1905, “I Don't Care”, Jean Lenox (lyrics), Harry O. Sutton (music), performed by Eva Tanguay:If I'm never successful, / It won't be distressful, / 'Cos I don't care.
Derived terms