What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Distress vs Sad - What's the difference?

distress | sad |

As a noun distress

is (Cause of) discomfort.

As a verb distress

is to cause strain or anxiety to someone.

As an adjective sad is

sated, having had one's fill; satisfied, weary.

As an acronym SAD is

seasonal affective disorder.

distress

English

Noun

(-)
  • (Cause of) discomfort.
  • * {{quote-book
  • , year=1833 , author=John Trusler , title=The Works of William Hogarth: In a Series of Engravings , chapter=8 citation , passage=To heighten his distress , he is approached by his wife, and bitterly upbraided for his perfidy in concealing from her his former connexions (with that unhappy girl who is here present with her child, the innocent offspring of her amours, fainting at the sight of his misfortunes, being unable to relieve him farther), and plunging her into those difficulties she never shall be able to surmount.}}
  • Serious danger.
  • * {{quote-book
  • , year=1719 , author=Daniel Defoe , title=Robinson Crusoe , chapter=13 citation , passage=I immediately considered that this must be some ship in distress , and that they had some comrade, or some other ship in company, and fired these gun for signals of distress, and to obtain help.}}
  • * {{quote-book
  • , year=1759 , author=Voltaire , title=Candide , chapter=42 citation , passage=At length they perceived a little cottage; two persons in the decline of life dwelt in this desert, who were always ready to give every assistance in their power to their fellow-creatures in distress .}}
  • (legal) A seizing of property without legal process to force payment of a debt.
  • (legal) The thing taken by distraining; that which is seized to procure satisfaction.
  • * Spenser
  • If he were not paid, he would straight go and take a distress of goods and cattle.
  • * Blackstone
  • The distress thus taken must be proportioned to the thing distrained for.

    Verb

    (es)
  • To cause strain or anxiety to someone.
  • * {{quote-book
  • , year=1827 , author=Stendhal , title=Armance , chapter=31 citation , passage=She respects me, no doubt, but has no longer any passionate feeling for me, and my death will distress her without plunging her in despair.}}
  • (legal) To retain someone’s property against the payment of a debt; to distrain.
  • *
  • To treat an object, such as an antique, to give it an appearance of age.
  • She distressed the new media cabinet so that it fit with the other furniture in the room.

    sad

    English

    Adjective

    (sadder)
  • (label) Sated, having had one's fill; satisfied, weary.
  • (label) Steadfast, valiant.
  • *, Book V:
  • *:And thus they strekyn forth into the stremys, many sadde hunderthes.
  • (label) Dignified, serious, grave.
  • *, II.xi:
  • *:Vprose Sir Guyon, in bright armour clad, / And to his purposd iourney him prepar'd: / With him the Palmer eke in habit sad , / Him selfe addrest to that aduenture hard
  • *(Francis Bacon) (1561-1626)
  • *:ripe and sad courage
  • * (1467-1533)
  • *:which treaty was wisely handled by sad and discrete counsel of both parties
  • (label) Naughty; troublesome; wicked.
  • *(Isaac Taylor) (1787–1865)
  • *:Sad tipsy fellows, both of them.
  • (label) Emotionally negative.
  • #Of colours: dark, deep; later, sombre, dull.
  • #*1646 , (Thomas Browne), Pseudodoxia Epidemica , II.5:
  • #*:this is either used crude, and called Sulphur Vive, and is of a sadder colour; or after depuration, such as we have in magdeleons of rolls, of a lighter yellow.
  • #*(Izaak Walton) (c.1594-1683)
  • #*:sad -coloured clothes
  • #* John Mortimer (1656?-1736)
  • #*:Woad, or wade, is used by the dyers to lay the foundation of all sad colours.
  • #Feeling sorrow; sorrowful, mournful.
  • #:
  • #*(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • #*:First were we sad , fearing you would not come; / Now sadder, that you come so unprovided.
  • #*(John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • #*:The angelic guards ascended, mute and sad .
  • #Appearing sorrowful.
  • #:
  • #Causing sorrow; lamentable.
  • #:
  • #*
  • #*:The Great Gaels of Ireland are the men that God made mad, / For all their wars are merry and all their songs are sad .
  • #*{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=20 citation , passage=The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen. No one queried it. It was in the classic pattern of human weakness, mean and embarrassing and sad .}}
  • #Poor in quality, bad; shameful, deplorable; later, regrettable, poor.
  • #:
  • #*1819 , (Lord Byron), , II.127:
  • #*:Heaven knows what cash he got, or blood he spilt, / A sad old fellow was he, if you please.
  • (label) Unfashionable; socially inadequate or undesirable.
  • :
  • (label) Soggy (to refer to pastries).
  • (label) Heavy; weighty; ponderous; close; hard.
  • :sad bread
  • *(Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)
  • *:his hand, more sad than lump of lead
  • * John Mortimer (1656?-1736)
  • *:Chalky lands are naturally cold and sad .
  • Synonyms

    * (feeling mentally uncomfortable) discomforted, distressed, uncomfortable, unhappy * (low in spirits) depressed, down in the dumps, glum, melancholy * poignant, touching * (causing sorrow) lamentable * (poor in quality) pitiful, sorry * See also * See also

    Antonyms

    * happy * cheerful * gleeful, upbeat * decent

    Derived terms

    * sadness

    Anagrams

    * * * 1000 English basic words ----