Distress
Distress noun - A state of great suffering of body or mind.
Usage example: the survivors were in extreme distress after having been stranded on the island for a week with no food
Hurt is a synonym for distress in activity topic. In some cases you can use "Hurt" instead the word "Distress" as a noun or a verb, when it comes to topics like worry, torment, happy. popular alternative
Hurt
Hurt noun - A state of great suffering of body or mind.
Usage example: in her hurt she said a lot of things to her boyfriend that she didn't really mean
Distress is a synonym for hurt in upset topic. You can use "Distress" instead the word "Hurt" as a noun or a verb, if it concerns topics such as injury, happy, cause mental pain. popular alternative
Mutual synonyms
How words are described
| emotional | emotional distress | emotional hurt |
| good | good distress | good hurt |
| considerable | considerable distress | considerable hurt |
| real | real distress | real hurt |
| Other adjectives: massive, serious, little, bad, personal, major, frequent, slightest, further, extra. | ||
Common collocations
Both words in one sentence
- Badass in Distress: Her fight with Hijiri is the only time she's ever been hurt and is the only time she's ever lost.
Source: Characters / Girls Bravo - He spends much of the Diva matches talking about the female wrestlers' "puppies" and other assets, but when one of them gets hurt, he's always the first one up to help, sometimes getting himself badly beaten when he tries to rescue a Diva in distress from a monster heel.
Source: Chivalrous Pervert -
Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Paired with Damsel in Distress, this trope explains why Driver gets involved in Standard's robbery scheme in the first place, to protect Irene's boy who was given a bullet by the Mook who beat up Standard.
Source: Film / Drive
Cite this Source
Hurt and Distress. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/distress/hurt
Distress & Hurt. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/distress/hurt>.
Hurt or Distress. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/distress/hurt.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "distress" and "hurt" have occurred on timeline