Distress and Tension

Distress

Distress noun - A state of great suffering of body or mind.

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Tension and distress are semantically related. In some cases you can use "Tension" instead a noun "Distress".

Tension noun - The burden on one's emotional or mental well-being created by demands on one's time.

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Distress and tension are semantically related. Sometimes you can use "Distress" instead a noun "Tension".

Nearby Words: tense, tensing, tensed, tenseness, tensely

emotional	emotional distress	emotional tension
good	good distress	good tension
clear	clear distress	clear tension
considerable	considerable distress	considerable tension
Other adjectives: genuine, deep, obvious, visible, real, constant, severe, extreme, great, intense, serious, little, internal, major, psychological, political, minor, further, extra, significant, immense, resulting.

It causes a bit of tension among the Twelve Holy Knights regarding teamwork and the Sun Knight, and how one's comrades shouldn't be treated as damsels in distress.

Source: Literature / The Legend of Sun Knight
However, it causes no particular tension in her relationships other than minor distress from Alex, and there is no moral given to the reader after Sara dies of lung cancer.

Source: Literature / T*Witches
So movies will often go out of their way to indicate that, against all odds, their Damsel in Distress is still a virgin, just to add that extra layer of tension.

Source: Virgin Tension

Cite this Source

Tension and Distress. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 03, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/distress/tension

Distress & Tension. N.p., 2016. Web. 03 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/distress/tension>.

Tension or Distress. 2016. Accessed August 03, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/distress/tension.

Google Ngram Viewer shows how "distress" and "tension" have occurred on timeline