distress
n. uncountablen. a feeling of extreme worry, sadness, or pain. It can also mean a situation where someone is in serious danger and needs help immediately.
n. extreme anxiety, sorrow, or physical pain; alternatively, a state of extreme necessity or misfortune, such as a ship or aircraft requiring immediate assistance.
The bad news caused her great distress.
The coast guard received a distress signal from a fishing boat caught in the storm ten miles offshore.
Psychologists distinguish between acute stress, which can be motivating, and chronic distress, which eventually erodes an individual's emotional resilience and physical health.
The verb is from Middle English distressen, from Old French destrecier (“to restrain, constrain, put in straits, afflict, distress”); compare French détresse. Ultimately from Medieval Latin as if *districtiō, an assumed frequentative form of Latin distringō (“to pull asunder, stretch out”), from dis- (“apart”) + stringō (“to draw tight, strain”). The noun is from Middle English distresse, from Old French destrece, ultimately also from Latin distringō.