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

as if thou wert distraught and mad with terror

—William Shakespeare

distraughtly adverb

Synonyms

• agitated
• delirious
• distracted
• distrait
• frantic
• frenzied
• hysterical
• hysteric

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 Apple Original film stars Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan as Rita, a distraught mother who frantically searches for her 9-year-old son George (newcomer Elliott Heffernan) after sending him to the countryside during the Blitz. —Ellise Shafer, Variety, 19 Sep. 2024

Saoirse Ronan plays a distraught mother searching for her missing son in World War II East London in the trailer for Steve McQueen’s Blitz, which dropped on Thursday. —Etan Vlessing, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Sep. 2024

Determined to return to his mother and grandfather (Paul Weller), George embarks on the perilous way home, while a distraught Rita desperately searches for her missing son and the bombing rages on. —Samantha Bergeson, IndieWire, 12 Sep. 2024

Jon Bon Jovi helped talk a distraught woman off the ledge of a Nashville bridge, police said. —Meredith Deliso, ABC News, 11 Sep. 2024

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

Kids Definition

distraught

adjective

dis·​traught dis-ˈtrȯt 

1

: disturbed with doubt or painful feelings

2

: insane sense 1

distraughtly adverb