Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Constraint by threat; coercion: confessed under duress.
- n. Law Coercion illegally applied.
- n. Law Forcible confinement.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Hardness.
- n. Hardship; constraint; pressure; imprisonment; restraint of liberty; durance.
- n. In law, actual or apprehended physical restraint so great as to amount to coercion: a species of fraud in which compulsion in some form takes the place of deception in accomplishing the injury.
- To subject to duress or restraint; imprison.
Wiktionary
- n. obsolete Harsh treatment.
- n. Constraint by threat.
- v. To put under duress; to pressure.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Hardship; constraint; pressure; imprisonment; restraint of liberty.
- n. (Law) The state of compulsion or necessity in which a person is influenced, whether by the unlawful restrain of his liberty or by actual or threatened physical violence, to incur a civil liability or to commit an offense.
- v. To subject to duress.
WordNet 3.0
- n. compulsory force or threat
Etymologies
- Middle English Old French duresse, from Latin duritia ("hardness"), from durus ("hard") (Wiktionary)
- Middle English duresse, harshness, compulsion, from Old French durece, hardness, from Latin dūritia, from dūrus, hard; see deru- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Still, making a guy beat-off under gunplay duress is fun.”
“The need to keep cool under duress is further tested when her boss (Patricia Clarkson) hires a sous chef, Nick (Aaron Eckhart).”
“From what I have heard information extracted under duress is inherently suspect because people will say anything to relieve the duress – note I am not trying to define torture but only duress.”
Think Progress » Legal Advocate For Torture Being Considered For Top Judicial Post
“In that part of the world, you have to rule with an iron fist … Though, compared to some other countries around there, and the “new and improved Bush version” fewer people were in duress or being subjected to murder.”
Think Progress » Breaking: Terrorist Zarqawi Killed in Iraq Air Strikes
““Though, compared to some other countries around there, and the “new and improved Bush version†fewer people were in duress or being subjected to murder.””
Think Progress » Breaking: Terrorist Zarqawi Killed in Iraq Air Strikes
“#542 – “In that part of the world, (Middle East) you have to rule with an iron fist†¦ Though, compared to some other countries around there, and the “new and improved Bush version†fewer people were in duress or being subjected to murder.””
Think Progress » Breaking: Terrorist Zarqawi Killed in Iraq Air Strikes
“After all, his duress is worth more than the 2100+ lost.”
“He completed 18-of-30 passes for 211 yards and an interception as he was under constant duress from the defense.”
“Mental duress is often worse than physical duress, and their lack of information about us was one of the many hardships our families had to endure throughout those many years.”
“Freedom from duress is held essential to a binding contract so that this very power of the strong may not be exercised over the weak.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘duress’.
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1100
abound, technology, branch of knowled..., prognosticate, automaton, matron, an older married ..., realm, special field of ..., kingdom, annals, historical records and 981 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Russian Doll Words
A Russian Doll word is a word that, when you remove the first and last letters, is either the empty string, or a Russian Doll word. These are all of the 6 or more letter Russian Doll words found in...
waspiness, upraisers, strainers, sporangia, raspiness, prelatess, methanals, gaspiness, washings, uprisers, upraises, upraiser and 2373 more...
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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(1st_wk_150)-Dec_5_2012
replete, steeped, eminent, indiscriminate, voracious, automaton, prognosticate, technology, abound, matron, tinge, compound and 297 more...
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September Words-10033
During the month of September, post at least 10 new words to this list. Make sure you cite where you read the word (book/author/pg) and quote the context/sentence where you found it. If someone has...
magnetoshere, pillage, raillery, Quarreling, alcove, myriad, Facade, Mundane, Exhibitionist, Flak, duress, Trichinosis and 74 more...
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GRE
trope, surreptitious, tenet, insular, munificent, exegesis, limpid, acerbic, litany, cupidity, restive, protract and 105 more...
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Reading 2nd Round
fugitive, hearth, elixir, perpetrator, surreal, tavern, stalk, strut, duress, cavil, intriguing, banister and 10 more...
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GRE 1100
drudgery, implore, hapless, nuance, wrest, incipient, inadvertent, tremulous, bristle, euphemism, disdain, pugnacious and 346 more...
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SAT words
abase, abate, abet, abject, abjure, abrogate, abscond, abstruse, accolade, accommodating, accost, accretion and 202 more...
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1100 words you need to know
GRE words
voracious, indiscriminate, replete, steeped, eminent, perceive, intrepid, compound, automaton, reticent, interminable, drudgery and 288 more...
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dharma66's list
words that pique my interest either by meaning, pronunciation, or spelling, and words that otherwise tickle my fancy!!
pique, elusive, serendipity, nefarious, redundant, pseudoscientific, obsequious, flack, quandary, impervious, perchance, translucent and 168 more...
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Words I Know
List of most of the words I've learned
garner, abase, abate, abdicate, abduct, aberration, abet, abhor, abide, abject, abjure, abnegation and 1046 more...
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Personal Vocabulary List
All my favourite words that I come across!
veritable, incongruence, rigamorole, letcherous, revolting, repulsive, reputrid, rapatious, forays, guise, placate, paradigm and 1162 more...
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Prep my Lang
Collection of my wordnik word search
equivocal, anomaly, proliferate, assimilate, obscure, aberration, parse, circumnavigate, circumvent, decipher, prose, impasse and 94 more...
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kingofbash's Words
bash, poleaxed, salacious, libertine, charlatan, aplomb, fortuitous, finagle, apoplectic, debutante, carte blanche, aardvark and 472 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for duress.
michaelt42 Bilby, I thought, having some Australian connections, that is was a type of clear, self-adhesive plastics tape for the fair sex, possibly also known as Sellatape. Dec 1, 2011
michaelt42 I am not a little puzzled to find duress and auspice linked together as "Related words/same context". They are virtual antonyms. So what is the relation? Dec 1, 2011
katiegiles "No I did the express register bein' that the prganizer was under some duress" Janet Evanovich-Finger Lickin Fifteen Sep 22, 2010
bilby *worried* So these aren't condoms for women? Dec 15, 2007
samoritan Why thank you! Dec 14, 2007
rolig Nashworthy! Dec 6, 2007
seanahan That's quite clever. Dec 6, 2007
samoritan The word "duress"
Seems to suggest
"Ur dress".
And "under duress",
"Under ur dress";
More or less.
Dec 6, 2007