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Distress vs Tension - What's the difference?

distress | tension | Related terms |

As nouns the difference between distress and tension

is that distress is (Cause of) discomfort while tension is condition of being held in a state between two or more forces, which are acting in opposition to each other.

As verbs the difference between distress and tension

is that distress is to cause strain or anxiety to someone while tension is to place an object in tension, to pull or place strain on.

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.

    Related terms

    * distrain * district

    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.

    External links

    * * *

    tension

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Condition of being held in a state between two or more forces, which are acting in opposition to each other
  • Psychological state of being tense.
  • (physics, engineering) State of an elastic object which is stretched in a way which increases its length.
  • (physics, engineering) Force transmitted through a rope, string, cable, or similar object (used with prepositions on'', ''in'', or ''of , e.g., "The tension in the cable is 1000 N", to convey that the same magnitude of force applies to objects attached to both ends).
  • (physics, engineering) Voltage. Usually only the terms low tension, high tension, and extra-high tension, and the abbreviations LT, HT, and EHT are used. They are not precisely defined; LT is normally a few volts, HT a few hundreds of volts, and EHT thousands of volts.

    • Related terms

    * tensional * tensile

    Verb

  • To place an object in tension, to pull or place strain on.
    • We tensioned the cable until it snapped.

    Anagrams

    * ----