distresses

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of distress.

   Any sudden change in routine distresses the elderly patient.

   The thought of public speaking distresses even seasoned professionals.

   Note

   The present-tense form for he, she or it: the news distresses her. It carries all three meanings of the verb. One is to upset someone. Another is to seize goods for a debt, the legal sense behind the plural noun. The third is the craftsman's trick of making something new look old. The object usually tells them apart: news distresses a person, a creditor distresses a debtor's goods, and a workshop distresses a tabletop.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of distress.

   The novel catalogs the quiet distresses of a family in decline.

   Her letters describe the private distresses she hid from her family.

   Note

   A plural that only some meanings of the noun welcome. When it names suffering in general, the noun stays singular. The plural appears when troubles are counted one by one, as in the quiet distresses of a family. In law the word is fully countable: a distress is a seizure of goods to force payment of a debt, or the goods taken, so distresses are separate seizures or separate lots seized.

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