as in difficult
full of or causing stress; making you feel worried or anxious
I had a stressful day at work today. a stressful situation
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Recent Examples of stressful
River, stream, lake, ocean, or pond–Southerners know that sometimes the best balm for a fraught mind or stressful season is a quick trip to the nearest body of water.
—
Tara Massouleh McCay, Southern Living, 3 June 2026
And as Bezos put it 25 years ago, taking ownership for your own success is a lot less stressful than waiting for someone else to fix it—and even less stressful than doing nothing at all.
—Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 2 June 2026
Ultimately, better sleep should make your life easier—not more stressful.
—Sharon Brandwein, USA Today, 2 June 2026
The simplified connectors are intended to speed deployment and reduce connection errors during nighttime operations or stressful combat situations.
—Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 1 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for stressful
Tara Massouleh McCay, Southern Living, 3 June 2026
And as Bezos put it 25 years ago, taking ownership for your own success is a lot less stressful than waiting for someone else to fix it—and even less stressful than doing nothing at all.
—Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 2 June 2026
Ultimately, better sleep should make your life easier—not more stressful.
—Sharon Brandwein, USA Today, 2 June 2026
The simplified connectors are intended to speed deployment and reduce connection errors during nighttime operations or stressful combat situations.
—Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 1 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for stressful
Recent Examples of Synonyms for stressful
Adjective
-
JSerra navigated a difficult regular-season schedule, then avoided upsets in the playoffs.—
Eric Sondheimer,
Los Angeles Times,
8 June 2026
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But the strength of his acidic, strong, difficult performance was too powerful for the Tonys to deny.—
Rebecca Alter,
Vulture,
8 June 2026
Adjective
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With the when, where and who will play whom at the 2026 World Cup all locked in, how do the groups rank from the easiest to the toughest?—
Andrew Greif,
NBC news,
12 June 2026
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Opening a restaurant in downtown Boise is a tough racket.—
Michael Deeds,
Idaho Statesman,
11 June 2026
Adjective
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More than half of the search-and-rescue workers who show up for the most trying missions are BUSARs.—
Paige Williams,
New Yorker,
12 Jan. 2026
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And Modi and Xi have had a more trying relationship than either has had with Putin.—
Thomas Wright,
The Atlantic,
17 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Stressful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stressful. Accessed 12 Jun. 2026.
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