trouble

—troubledly, adv. —troubledness, n. —troubler, n. —troublingly, adv.

/trub"euhl/, v., troubled, troubling, n.

v.t.

1. to disturb the mental calm and contentment of; worry; distress; agitate.

2. to put to inconvenience, exertion, pains, or the like: May I trouble you to shut the door?

3. to cause bodily pain, discomfort, or disorder to; afflict: to be troubled by arthritis.

4. to annoy, vex, or bother: Don't trouble her with petty complaints now.

5. to disturb, agitate, or stir up so as to make turbid, as water or wine: A heavy gale troubled the ocean waters.

v.i.

6. to put oneself to inconvenience, extra effort, or the like.

7. to be distressed or agitated mentally; worry: She always troubled over her son's solitariness.

n.

8. difficulty, annoyance, or harassment: It would be no trouble at all to advise you.

9. unfortunate or distressing position, circumstance, or occurrence; misfortune: Financial trouble may threaten security.

10. civil disorder, disturbance, or conflict: political trouble in the new republic; labor troubles.

11. a physical disorder, disease, ailment, etc.; ill health: heart trouble; stomach trouble.

12. mental or emotional disturbance or distress; worry: Trouble and woe were her lot in life.

13. an instance of this: some secret trouble weighing on his mind; a mother who shares all her children's troubles.

14. effort, exertion, or pains in doing something; inconvenience endured in accomplishing some action, deed, etc.: The results were worth the trouble it took.

15. an objectionable feature; problem; drawback: The trouble with your proposal is that it would be too costly to implement.

16. something or someone that is a cause or source of disturbance, distress, annoyance, etc.

17. a personal habit or trait that is a disadvantage or a cause of mental distress: His greatest trouble is oversensitivity.

18. the Troubles,

a. the violence and civil war in Ireland, 1920-22.

b. the conflict between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland, beginning in 1969.

19. in trouble, Informal. pregnant out of wedlock (used as a euphemism).

[1175-1225; (v.) ME troublen < OF troubler < VL *turbulare, deriv. of *turbulus turbid, back formation from L turbulentus TURBULENT; (n.) ME < MF, deriv. of troubler]

Syn. 1. concern, upset, confuse. 4. pester, plague, fret, torment, hector, harass, badger. 12. concern, grief, agitation, care, suffering. 14. See care. 15. trial, tribulation, affliction, misfortune.

Ant. 1. mollify; delight.

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