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distressing
| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | physically or mentally agonizing |
| Synonyms: | aching, afflictive, agonizing, arduous, awful, biting, burning, caustic, difficult, dire, disagreeable, distasteful, distressing, dreadful, excruciating, extreme, extremely bad, grievous, hard, harrowing, hurtful, hurting, inflamed, irritated, laborious, piercing, raw, saddening, sensitive, severe, sharp, smarting, sore, stinging, tedious, tender, terrible, throbbing, tormenting, troublesome, trying, uncomfortable, unpleasant, vexatious |
| Antonyms: | delightful, easy, painless, pleasant |
| Main Entry: | piteous |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | miserable, pathetic |
| Synonyms: | beseeching, commiserable, deplorable, distressing, doleful, dolorous, entreating, grievous, heartbreaking, heartrending, imploring, lamentable, melancholy, mournful, moving, pitiable, pitiful, plaintive, poignant, poor, rueful, ruined, sad, sorrowful, supplicating, woeful, wretched |
| Notes: | piteous is generally not used when speaking of people, pitiable means 'able to be pitied,' and pitiful most often means 'insignificant; below contempt' |
| Antonyms: | cheerful, happy |
| Main Entry: | pitiful |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | in bad shape; poor |
| Synonyms: | abject, affecting, afflicted, arousing, base, beggarly, cheap, cheerless, comfortless, commiserative, compassionate, contemptible, deplorable, despicable, dismal, distressed, distressing, grievous, heartbreaking, heartrending, inadequate, insignificant, joyless, lamentable, low, mean, miserable, mournful, moving, paltry, pathetic, piteous, pitiable, sad, scurvy, shabby, sorrowful, sorry, stirring, suffering, tearful, touching, vile, woeful, worthless, wretched |
| Notes: | piteous is generally not used when speaking of people, pitiable means 'able to be pitied,' and pitiful most often means 'insignificant; below contempt' |
| Antonyms: | excellent, happy, superb, superior, wonderful, worthwhile |
| Main Entry: | poignant |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | affecting, painful |
| Synonyms: | agitating, agonizing, bitter, distressing, disturbing, emotional, heartbreaking, heartrending, impressive, intense, moving, passionate, pathetic, perturbing, piteous, pitiful, sad, sentimental, sorrowful, touching, upsetting |
| Antonyms: | calm, numb, pleasant, soothing, unaffecting |
| Main Entry: | pressing |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | important; urgent |
| Synonyms: | acute, burning, claiming, clamant, clamorous, compelling, constraining, critical, crucial, crying, demanding, dire, distressing, exacting, exigent, forcing, heat-on, high-priority, hurry-up, immediate, imperative, importunate, insistent, instant, life-and-death, obliging, requiring, serious, vital |
| Antonyms: | insignificant, trivial, unimportant |
| Main Entry: | regrettable |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | unfortunate, wrong |
| Synonyms: | afflictive, calamitous, deplorable, dire, disappointing, distressing, dreadful, grievous, heartbreaking, ill-advised, lamentable, pitiable, pitiful, sad, shameful, unfavorable, unhappy, woeful |
| Notes: | a person is regretful; a situation may be regrettable |
| Antonyms: | blessed, fortunate, happy, lucky, right |
| Main Entry: | severe |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | difficult, harsh |
| Synonyms: | acute, arduous, ascetic, austere, bitter, bleak, consequential, critical, dangerous, dear, demanding, despotic, distressing, domineering, drastic, effortful, exacting, extreme, fierce, forbidding, grave, grim, grinding, hard, heavy, hefty, implacable, inclement, intemperate, intense, mordant, oppressive, overbearing, pitiless, punishing, rigorous, rugged, serious, sharp, sore, strenuous, stringent, taxing, toilsome, tough, tyrannical, unpleasant, unrelenting, violent, weighty, wicked |
| Antonyms: | calm, easy, facile, mild, temperate |
| Main Entry: | sharp |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | severe, intense |
| Synonyms: | acute, agonizing, biting, cutting, distinct, distressing, drilling, excruciating, fierce, keen, knifelike, painful, paralyzing, penetrating, piercing, shooting, smart, sore, stabbing, stinging, violent |
| Antonyms: | calm, mild, moderate |
| Main Entry: | shocking |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | outrageous; very surprising |
| Synonyms: | abominable, appalling, atrocious, awful, burning, crying, desperate, detestable, direful, disgraceful, disgusting, disquieting, distressing, dreadful, fearful, formidable, foul, frightful, ghastly, glaring, hateful, heinous, hideous, horrible, horrific, horrifying, loathsome, monstrous, nauseating, odious, offensive, repulsive, revolting, scandalous, shameful, sickening, stupefying, terrible, ugly, unspeakable |
| Antonyms: | calming, comforting, soothing |
Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition
Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2013 Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
