Discomfort
noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Mental or bodily distress. countable, uncountable
"[…] although overcrowding on the trains running via London Bridge has occasioned considerable discomfort to regular travellers, it was noticed that the alternative route was not extensively patronised, and that the trains were seldom more than half-filled."
- 2 an uncomfortable feeling of mental painfulness or distress wordnet
- 3 Something that disturbs one’s comfort; an annoyance. countable, uncountable
"Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee."
- 4 the state of being tense and feeling pain wordnet
- 1 To cause annoyance or distress to.
- 2 To discourage; to deject. obsolete
"His funeral shall not be in our camp, Lest it discomfort us."
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"And since she refused to accept it, she had been living in extreme discomfort, exclaiming: "Why should we spend all the capital we are ever likely to have tying ourselves down to a place we detest!""
Etymology
From Middle English discomforten, from Anglo-Norman descomforter, equivalent to dis- + comfort.
Related phrases
More for "discomfort"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.