Definition of DISTRAUGHT (original) (raw)
1
: agitated with doubt or mental conflict or pain
2
: exhibiting a severely disordered state of mind : not mentally sound
as if thou wert distraught and mad with terror—
William Shakespeare
Synonyms
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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
There’s also a troubling recurrent theme of angry, violent, and/or distraught mothers, who we are asked to watch suffer or inflict suffering on others time and time again. —Ben Travers, IndieWire, 9 Jan. 2025 The video also captures a distraught women yelling into her cellphone, apparently devastated by the destruction. —Tara Prindiville, NBC News, 9 Jan. 2025 Tense standoff with Miami-Dade police ends in the shooting of a mentally ill man and horror for his distraught mother. —Carol Marbin Miller, Miami Herald, 8 Jan. 2025 When the mortician described the fang marks, Ms. Ngari was distraught. —Brian Otieno, New York Times, 6 Jan. 2025 See all Example Sentences for distraught 
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
Time Traveler
The first known use of distraught was in the 14th century
Dictionary Entries Near distraught
Cite this Entry
“Distraught.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/distraught. Accessed 19 Jan. 2025.
Share
More from Merriam-Webster on distraught
Last Updated: 15 Jan 2025 - Updated example sentences
Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!