Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Great affliction, trial, or distress; suffering: Their tribulation has finally passed. See Synonyms at trial.
- n. An experience that tests one's endurance, patience, or faith. See Synonyms at burden1.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A state of affliction or oppression; suffering; distress.
- n. A cause or occasion of suffering; a trouble or trial.
- n. A troublesome or lawless person; also, such persons collectively; colloquially, a trial; a terror.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. That which occasions distress, trouble, or vexation; severe affliction.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an annoying or frustrating or catastrophic event
Etymologies
- Middle English tribulation, from Old French tribulacion, from Late Latin tribulatio ("distress, trouble, tribulation, affliction"), from tribulare ("to press, probably also thresh out grain"), from tribulum ("a sledge consisting of a wooden block studded with sharp pieces of flint or with iron teeth, used for threshing grain"), from terere ("to rub"); see trite. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English tribulacioun, from Old French tribulacion, from Latin trībulātiō, trībulātiōn-, from trībulātus, past participle of trībulāre, to oppress, from Latin trībulum, threshing-sledge; see terə-1 in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“William Chambers wrote in his Edinburgh Journal in 1840: "It seems mankind are forever destined to live under some alarming apprehension ... at every interval of three, four, or five years, the community is plunged into the greatest tribulation from the number of bankruptcies and general mercantile stagnation, while ruin stares everyone in the face.”
“And those who keep their treaty when they make one, and the patient in tribulation and adversity and time of stress.”
“The word tribulation means calamity, or suffering.”
“Then they saw the need of delay, before completely punishing the wicked, to give space for repentance, or else for accumulation of wrath (Ro 2: 15); and before completely rewarding the godly, to give room for faith and perseverance in tribulation (Ps 92: 7-12).”
“If our "hope" of glory is so assured that it is a rejoicing hope, we shall find the spirit of "endurance in tribulation" natural and easy; but since it is "prayer" which strengthens the faith that begets hope and lifts it up into an assured and joyful expectancy, and since our patience in tribulation is fed by this, it will be seen that all depends on our "perseverance in prayer.”
“Philadelphia alone of the seven are honored with unmixed praise, as faithful in tribulation and rich in good works.”
“Perhaps his companions in tribulation insulted over him, because he had often been disappointed of a cure; therefore Christ took him for his patient: it is his honour to side with the weakest, and bear up those whom he sees run down.”
“Christ put into a crown; so much did he alter the property of them to them that are his, giving them cause to glory in tribulation, and making it to work for them a weight of glory.”
“Those who through grace can glory in tribulation ought to glorify God in tribulation, and give him thanks for their comforts, which abound as their afflictions do abound.”
“They were such as he had an intimate acquaintance with, being not only their countryman, but their companion in tribulation; they and he were fellow-sufferers, and had lately been fellow-travellers, in very melancholy circumstances, from Judea to Babylon, and had often mingled their tears, which could not but knit their affections to each other.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘tribulation’.
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RELI - words with Biblical connotations
Words in the Bible evoking biblical stories or with special spiritual meaning. Proper names have been reduced to the minimum.
ark, judgement, holy, saint, baptism, spirit, love, eternal, altar, balsam, covenant, flood and 1115 more...
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RELI - words you immediately associat...
advent, almighty, altar, anoint, apostle, archangel, ark, Balaam, baptism, baptist, baptize, begotten and 341 more...
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Favorite Words Ending In 'tion
obfuscation, delineation, ratiocination, proprioception, gesticulation, oscillation, undulation, fasciculation, confabulation, interdiction, juxtaposition, commiseration and 41 more...
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kalidas's Words
crepuscular, mellifluous, ephemeral, diaphanous, zeitgeist, geisterfahrer, infinite, eternal, idyllic, azure, reminiscent, oblivion and 521 more...
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newGRE
mostly from magoosh
imbue, verge on, nonchalant, deliberate, timorous, futile, provisional, dissect, checked, tinged, alluring, visionary and 1046 more...
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Ny New Words
From Barron Wordlist the New Words
lap, lank, languor, languish, lancet, lance, lampoon, larceny, larder, largess, lascivious, latitude and 120 more...
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stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
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kingrat47's Words
procrustean, devolution, cacophony, hippopotamus, crunch, beware, chortled, sibilant, subtle, undermine, acromegaly, acropolis and 645 more...
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5-0
Hecko, words! I’m so happy I’ve found you. I want to keep you all and never want to lose you again. I hope you like it here.
amscray, thistledown, tine, tinsel, pungent, snarl, wail, lanky, viscid, dawdle, luminous, stow and 2719 more...
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pword
vexatious, verdigris, variegated, diatribe, vicissitude, conflagration, plurality, paragon, charlatan, panacea, sycophant, plenitude and 347 more...
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Words of the Day
glabella, chirotony, nook-shotten, crapehanger, filemot, swirlie, egosurf, lexiphanicism, Ruritanian, stichometry, chrononaut, faldstool and 2253 more...
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Sat Vocabulary List
abandon, abash, abate, abjure, ablution, abnegate, abominable, aboriginal, abortive, abrade, abridge, abrogate and 2155 more...
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Go over
mollify, obstinate, obviate, occlude, onerous, obscure, paragon, pedantic, perfunctory, placate, placid, prodigal and 364 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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Turning and Twisting Tours
words in the nature of double spirals
swift, swerve, swirl, swivel, swarm, swag, swank, swoop, swinge, swarf, spire, esparto and 361 more...
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me + student loans =
You know that feeling when you open your wallet and all you can find inside are ATM receipts?
When being a squatter is the least of your worries and that thing called dignity is shove...destitution, beggary, impecuniosity, indigence, mendicancy, poor, impoverishment, pauperism, pennilessness, penuriousness, penury, poverty and 168 more...
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