troubles

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of trouble.

   His financial troubles deepened after the business closed.

   They shared their troubles over coffee one rainy afternoon.

   Note

   The plural belongs to the countable side of trouble: separate worries or setbacks that can be listed one by one, as in financial troubles. The uncountable uses, such as a state of unease or a general mess, stay singular, so a person is in trouble, not in troubles. The same spelling also serves the verb's he-and-she form; a determiner or adjective in front of it marks the noun.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of trouble.

   The constant uncertainty troubles many of the workers.

   What troubles him most is the silence that follows an argument.

   Note

   This form nearly always takes an object: the uncertainty troubles the workers, the noise troubles nobody. With a reflexive pronoun it means taking pains, as in she rarely troubles herself to reply. Without an object it can mean simply to worry. The archaic sense of stirring up water belongs to older writing, as in a breeze troubles the pond.

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