English Dictionary

Definition of “trouble”

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trouble (ˈtrʌbəllPronunciation for trouble) 

Definitions

noun

  1. a state or condition of mental distress or anxiety
  2. a state or condition of disorder or unrest  ⇒ industrial trouble 
  3. a condition of disease, pain, or malfunctioning  ⇒ she has liver trouble 
  4. a cause of distress, disturbance, or pain; problem  ⇒ what is the trouble? 
  5. effort or exertion taken to do something  ⇒ he took a lot of trouble over this design 
  6. liability to suffer punishment or misfortune (esp in the phrase be in trouble)  ⇒ he's in trouble with the police 
  7. a personal quality that is regarded as a weakness, handicap, or cause of annoyance  ⇒ his trouble is that he's too soft 
  8. (plural)
    1. political unrest or public disturbances
    2. See the Troubles
  9. the condition of an unmarried girl who becomes pregnant (esp in the phrase in trouble)

verb

  1. (tr) to cause trouble to; upset, pain, or worry
  2. (intr)  usually with a negative and foll by about to put oneself to inconvenience; be concerned  ⇒ don't trouble about me 
  3. (intr; usually with a negative) to take pains; exert oneself  ⇒ please don't trouble to write everything down 
  4. (tr) to cause inconvenience or discomfort to  ⇒ does this noise trouble you? 
  5. (tr; usually passive) to agitate or make rough  ⇒ the seas were troubled 
  6. (tr) Caribbean to interfere with  ⇒ he wouldn't like anyone to trouble his new bicycle 

Alternative Forms

ˈtroubled adjective ˈtroubler noun

Word Origin

C13: from Old French troubler , from Vulgar Latin turbulāre  (unattested), from Late Latin turbidāre , from turbidus  confused, from turba commotion

Synonyms

View thesaurus entry
= bother, problems, concern, worry, stress, difficulty, anxiety, distress, grief, irritation, hassle, strife, inconvenience, unease, disquiet, annoyance, agitation, commotion, unpleasantness, vexation,
= shortcoming, problem, failing, fault, weakness, defect, imperfection, weak point,
= distress, problem, suffering, worry, pain, anxiety, grief, torment, hardship, sorrow, woe, irritation, hassle, misfortune, heartache, disquiet, annoyance, agitation, tribulation, bummer, vexation,
= ailment, disease, failure, complaint, upset, illness, disorder, disability, defect, malfunction,
= disorder, fighting, row, conflict, bother, grief, unrest, disturbance, to-do, discontent, dissatisfaction, furore, uproar, scuffling, discord, fracas, commotion, rumpus, breach of the peace, tumult, affray, brouhaha, ructions, hullabaloo, kerfuffle, hoo-ha, biffo, boilover,
= problem, bother, concern, pest, irritation, hassle, nuisance, inconvenience, irritant, cause of annoyance
= effort, work, thought, care, labour, struggle, pains, bother, grief, hassle, inconvenience, exertion,
= difficulty, hot water predicament, deep water spot, danger, mess, dilemma, scrape, pickle, dire straits tight spot,
= malfunction, failure, fault, breakdown, dysfunction,
= bother, worry, upset, disturb, distress, annoy, plague, grieve, torment, harass, hassle, afflict, pain, fret, agitate, sadden, perplex, disconcert, disquiet, pester, vex, perturb, faze, give someone grief discompose, put or get someone's back up hack you off
= afflict, hurt, bother, cause discomfort to pain, grieve,
= inconvenience, disturb, burden, put out, impose upon discommode, incommode,
= take pains take the time make an effort go to the effort of exert yourself

Quotations

  • "Man is born unto trouble" Bible: Job
  • "Double, double, toil and trouble" William Shakespeare
  • "Never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you"

Translations

  • British English: trouble Pronunciation for trouble You can refer to problems or difficulties as trouble.I had trouble parking.ˈtrʌbl NOUN I had trouble parking.
  • Spanish: problema Pronunciation for problema nm
  • French: difficultés Pronunciation for difficultés nf_pl
  • German: Schwierigkeit Pronunciation for Schwierigkeit nf
  • Chinese: 麻烦Pronunciation for 麻烦 n
  • Arabic: قَلَقPronunciation for قَلَق n
  • Portuguese: problemaPronunciation for problema nm
  • Russian: беспокойствоPronunciation for беспокойство nnt
  • Croatian: nedaćaPronunciation for nedaća nf
  • Czech: potížePronunciation for potíže npl
  • Danish: problemPronunciation for problem nnt
  • Dutch: narigheidPronunciation for narigheid nf
  • Finnish: vaikeusPronunciation for vaikeus n
  • Greek: μπελάςPronunciation for μπελάς nm
  • Italian: problemaPronunciation for problema nm
  • Japanese: 困難Pronunciation for 困難 n
  • Korean: 곤란Pronunciation for 곤란 n
  • Norwegian: trøbbelPronunciation for trøbbel nnt
  • Polish: kłopotPronunciation for kłopot nm
  • Brazilian Portuguese: problemaPronunciation for problema nm
  • European Spanish: problemas Pronunciation for problemas npl
  • Swedish: bekymmerPronunciation for bekymmer nnt
  • Thai: ปัญหาPronunciation for ปัญหา n
  • Turkish: güçlükPronunciation for güçlük n
  • Vietnamese: vấn đềPronunciation for vấn đề n

Usage examples

  • The trouble was that I couldn't concentrate on the documents at all.
    Hugo Wilcken, THE EXECUTION (2002)
  • Former lifeboat William and Kate Johnston has been saved at sea after getting into trouble on Thursday.
    Yachting Boating World (2004)
  • Nobody asks hard questions - partly because Britney is patently having trouble with the easy ones.
    Irish Times (2002)
  • Whenever someone else goes to the trouble of cooking for me I'm always truly thankful.
    Glasgow Herald (2001)
  • Their EPIRB was activated and the authorities believed they were still in serious trouble.
    Rob Mundle, FATAL STORM (2001)

Commonness

All English words that begin with 'T'

Related Terms

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