distraught

adjective

dis·​traught di-ˈstrȯt 

1

: agitated with doubt or mental conflict or pain

distraught mourners

2

: exhibiting a severely disordered state of mind : not mentally sound

… canst thou quake … / As if thou wert distraught and mad with terror?

—William Shakespeare

distraughtly adverb

Synonyms of distraught

• agitated
• worried
• frightened
• frantic
• scared
• terrified
• upset

Examples of distraught in a Sentence

Of particular concern are phony contractors, who knock on the doors of distraught homeowners and offer to repair damaged roofs or remove fallen trees. —Natalie Rodriguez, This Old House, March 2006

The night before the story broke, West sat down for a two-hour interview with the Spokane-Review and left so distraught that its editor, Steven Smith, asked the police chief to check on him. —Unmesh Kher, Time, 23 May 2005

Captured by news photographers under the direction of his manager Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis's turn in the barber's chair was a public ceremony: a symbolic shearing, not only of Elvis—who would return from the service a meek semblance of himself, a mama's boy without a mama (his distraught mother, Gladys, died while he was stationed at Fort Hood, soon to depart for Germany)—but of rock 'n' roll itself. —James Wolcott, Vanity Fair, November 2000

Distraught relatives are waiting for news of the missing children.

She was distraught over the death of her partner.

Recent Examples on the Web

The perpetrators often looked down at the floor or straight ahead as approximately 30 victim impact statements were read – most from young female victims, but also from distraught parents and Janine Swinehart, the prosecuting attorney. —Alyssa Goldberg, USA Today, 26 Mar. 2026

The victim’s grieving brother was too distraught to talk to reporters. —Julian Roberts-Grmela, New York Daily News, 26 Mar. 2026

With Mendez at gunpoint, the distraught driver was allowed to get out of her car. —Teri Figueroa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 Mar. 2026

But instead, the young bride was wandering the streets of London in the June heat, frustrated and distraught. —Moira Donegan, New Yorker, 13 Mar. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English distraght, distrauht, distrawt "disturbed, distressed, insane," alteration of distract (functioning as past participle of distracten "to distract entry 1"), probably by assimilation to past participles ending in -ght, as caght, caught, caut caught, taught, taut taught

Note: The Oxford English Dictionary, first edition, suggests that the specific motivating factor for the formation may have been the Middle English verb strecchen "to stretch entry 1," which has as past participles both streight, straight (see straight entry 1) and straught, straut. Given that the Middle English word distrait "distracted, distressed," by origin a past participle of Anglo-French detreire (see distrait), was taken as synonymous with distract (as past participle), by analogy with streight/straught a new formation distraght may have arisen.

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for distraught

• allot
• barat
• begot
• besought
• bethought
• bloodshot
• boycott
• buckshot
• crackpot
• croat
• culottes
• dashpot

Kids Definition

distraught

adjective

dis·​traught dis-ˈtrȯt 

1

: disturbed with doubt or painful feelings

2

: insane sense 1

distraughtly adverb