trouble
/ˈt͡ʃɹʌbəl/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.79 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A difficulty, problem, condition, or action contributing to such a situation.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
The state of being troubled, disturbed, or distressed mentally; unease, disquiet.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
Objectionable feature of something or someone; problem, drawback, weakness, failing, or shortcoming.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "He was in trouble when the rain started."
- "The trouble was a leaking brake line."
- "The bridge column magnified the trouble with a slight tilt in the wrong direction."
- "Lest the fiend […] some new trouble raise."
- "Foul whisperings are abroad; unnatural deeds / Do breed unnatural troubles."
- "Scientists must realize that dialectical materialism is the only way out of the trouble they have got into through ignorance of Marx and Engels."
Etymology
Verb is from Middle English troublen, trouble, borrowed from Old French troubler, trobler, trubler, metathetic variants of tourbler, torbler, turbler, from Vulgar Latin *turbulō, from Latin turbula (“disorderly group, a little crowd or people”), diminutive of turba (“stir; crowd”). The noun is from Middle English trouble, troble, from Old French troble, from the verb.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈt͡ʃɹʌbəl/
- British English: /ˈt͡ʃɹʌbəl/
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Law.