Synonyms for distressing
dis·tress·ing

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:5.0 / 1 vote

1. distressing

   Synonyms:
   depressing, disappointing, hateful, horrible, melancholy, miserable, mournful, painful, saddening, woful, wretched

   Antonyms:
   acceptable, agreeable, congenial, delicious, delightful, grateful, gratifying, pleasant, pleasing, pleasurable, refreshing, satisfying, welcome

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. distressing, distressful, disturbing, perturbing, troubling, worrisome, worryingadjective

   causing distress or worry or anxiety

   "distressing (or disturbing) news"; "lived in heroic if something distressful isolation"; "a disturbing amount of crime"; "a revelation that was most perturbing"; "a new and troubling thought"; "in a particularly worrisome predicament"; "a worrying situation"; "a worrying time"

   Synonyms:
   perturbing, unreassuring, worrying, deplorable, sorry, sad, disturbing, lamentable, distressful, worrisome, troubling, pitiful

   Antonyms:
   light, good

2. deplorable, distressing, lamentable, pitiful, sad, sorryadjective

   bad; unfortunate

   "my finances were in a deplorable state"; "a lamentable decision"; "her clothes were in sad shape"; "a sorry state of affairs"

   Synonyms:
   regretful, deplorable, hapless, no-account, reprehensible, woeful, dismal, troubling, execrable, dingy, disconsolate, perturbing, no-count, good-for-nothing, miserable, worrying, criminal, no-good, vicious, disturbing, dark, grim, sad, piteous, condemnable, lamentable, worrisome, misfortunate, pitiable, bad, poor, pathetic, wretched, sorry, pitiful, gloomy, drab, distressful, dreary, drear, good-for-naught, blue, meritless

   Antonyms:
   light, good

Editors ContributionRate these synonyms:4.0 / 2 votes

1. happy

   sometimes people are so happy that others find it distressing

   jenna smiled brightly at her mother, who just looked distressed

   Submitted by anonymous on December 1, 2020  

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:2.0 / 1 vote

1. distressingadjective

   Synonyms:
   grievous, distressful, painful, afflictive

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:5.0 / 1 vote

1. List of paraphrases for "distressing":

   painful, worrying, disturbing, harrowing, agonizing, sad, alarming, agonising, troubling, regrettable, stressful, depressing, worrisome, disheartening, deplorable, disquieting, disappointing, shocking

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How to use distressing in a sentence?

1. Gretchen Whitmer:

   It was just kind of mind-boggling. This is a ministerial duty that these board members have taken an oath to uphold and this was incredibly distressing for that short period of time that it stood.

2. Erik Lundh:

   For the people who saved some of that money to backstop their spending, life is probably still pretty good, but for people who live paycheck-to-paycheck, that decline in real disposable income... that's much more distressing than economists and policymakers realize.

3. Tal Ben-Shahar:

   One of the best ways to deal with the depressing and demoralizing impact of the constant barrage of bad news is distraction. We are not burying our head in the sand when we engage in activities that take us away from an otherwise distressing situation.

4. Courtney Brown:

   The data is sad and distressing, but the fact that we now have the data, we can’t hide and say we don’t know anymore, now we need to act on the data.

5. Ben Ray Lujan:

   As someone who read the articles... the way it read was someone was trying to send a message that she had her shot and she walked away, i don't even know that is true. It is distressing. She is the consummate professional. She is someone we are so proud of. She is someone who is imminently qualified.