trouble

trouble vb 1 Trouble, distress, ail can all mean to cause to be uneasy or upset.

Trouble suggests loss of tranquillity or serenity and implies disturbance of any sort that interferes with efficiency, convenience, comfort, health of body, or peace of mind

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'tis not my speeches that you do mis- like, but 'tis my presence that doth trouble ye—Shak.

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let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me— Jn 14:1

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it was his face which was so startling, so troubling: limber-jawed, twitching all over with emotion— Styron

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Distress implies subjection to strain or pressure that causes such reactions as tension, pain, worry, or grief; thus, a cough distresses when it is tight and persistent; the formation of gas in the stomach distresses by its pressing bloating effect; a person is distressed in mind when anxiety distracts or crushes him; a person is financially distressed when he is in circumstances so straitened that he cannot pay his debts or satisfy his needs

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it was this unseeing quality . . . that distressed Maria, that left her with a mingling of compassion and apprehension— Hervey

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Ail implies that something has gone wrong or is the matter; in contrast to trouble and distress it is used only in respect to unspecified causes; thus, a cough may be said to trouble or to distress a person but not to ail him; one can be troubled or distressed but not ailed by something disturbing

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few American industries have gone to such lengths ... to find out what was ailing it— Nation's Business

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that . . . was what ailed the Jews: they never knew when they were whipped— Douglas

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Analogous words: *discompose, disquiet, disturb, perturb, upset, agitate: vex, irk, *annoy, bother

2 *inconvenience, incommode, discommode

Analogous words: *embarrass, discomfit, disconcert, abash: *worry, annoy, plague, pester: perplex, *puzzle, distract

trouble n *effort, exertion, pains

Analogous words: flurry, fuss, ado, *stir, bustle, pother: labor, toil, *work: *difficulty, rigor, vicissitude, hardship