Word of the Day

: February 13, 2016

tribulation

noun trib-yuh-LAY-shun

What It Means

: distress or suffering resulting from oppression or persecution; also : a trying experience

tribulation in Context

"Now Lemsford's great care, anxiety, and endless source of tribulation was the preservation of his manuscripts." — Herman Melville, White Jacket; or, the World in a Man-of-War, 1850

"In sharing the many tribulations of real-life patients and physicians, Nussbaum unveils a thoughtful, well-rounded, yet thorny vision of the current state of medicine." — Kirkus Reviews, 15 Jan. 2016

Did You Know?

The writer and Christian scholar Thomas More, in his 1534 work A dialoge of comforte against tribulation, defined the title word as "euery such thing as troubleth and greueth [grieveth] a man either in bodye or mynde." These days, however, the word tribulation is typically used as a plural noun, paired with its alliterative partner trial, and relates less to oppression and more to any kind of uphill struggle. Tribulation derives via Middle English and Old French from the Latin verb tribulare ("to oppress or afflict"), which is related to tribulum, a noun meaning "threshing board."