stressful

adjective

stress·​ful ˈstres-fəl 

: full of or tending to induce stress

stressfully

ˈstres-fə-lē 

adverb

Examples of stressful in a Sentence

I had a stressful day at work today.

Recent Examples on the Web

Those life-disrupting incidents are about to become much more frequent and stressful. — Tony Kirtley, Fortune, 8 Oct. 2026

During school board meetings, teachers described how temperatures can climb to 90 degrees in classrooms, which creates a stressful environment and has led to more discipline problems. — Elizabeth Campbell, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 7 Oct. 2026

So to sort of revisit some of that just to see … and not even necessarily bad memories, but just memories that were stressful times. — Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone, 6 Oct. 2026

The huge crowds were stressful for police, who ended up working longer shifts than usual to deal with traffic, accidents, shoplifting and other issues. — Arthur Zaczkiewicz, Footwear News, 5 Oct. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1846, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for stressful

• distressful
• successful
• unsuccessful

Kids Definition

stressful

adjective

stress·​ful ˈstres-fəl 

: full of or tending to cause stress

stressfully

-fə-lē 

adverb

Medical Definition

stressful

adjective

stress·​ful ˈstres-fəl 

: full of or subject to stress

stressful situations

stressfully

-fə-lē 

adverb