trouble
English
editEtymology
editVerb is from Middle English troublen, trublen, turblen, troblen, borrowed from Old French troubler, trobler, trubler, metathetic variants of tourbler, torbler, turbler, from Vulgar Latin *turbulō, from Latin turbula (“disorderly group, a little crowd or people”), diminutive of turba (“stir; crowd”). The noun is from Middle English truble, troble, from Old French troble, from the verb.
Pronunciation
edit- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: trŭbʹəl; IPA(key): /ˈtɹʌb(ə)l/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈtɹʌb(ə)l/, /ˈtɹə-/
Audio (General American): (file) - Rhymes: -ʌbəl
- Hyphenation: trou‧ble
Noun
edittrouble (countable and uncountable, plural troubles)
- A distressing or dangerous situation.
- He was in trouble when the rain started.
- A difficulty, problem, condition, or action contributing to such a situation.
- The trouble was a leaking brake line.
- The bridge column magnified the trouble with a slight tilt in the wrong direction.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book XI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
- Lest the fiend […] some new trouble raise.
- c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
- Foul whisperings are abroad; unnatural deeds / Do breed unnatural troubles.
- A person liable to place others or themselves in such a situation.
- 2021, Taylor Swift, Max Martin, Shellback (lyrics and music), “I Knew You Were Trouble (Taylor's Version)”, in Red (Taylor's Version)[1], performed by Taylor Swift:
- ’Cause I knew you were trouble when you walked in
So shame on me no-ow
- The state of being troubled, disturbed, or distressed mentally; unease, disquiet.
- 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XL, page 63:
- Yet oft when sundown skirts the moor
An inner trouble I behold,
A spectral doubt which makes me cold,
That I shall be thy mate no more, […]
- Objectionable feature of something or someone; problem, drawback, weakness, failing, or shortcoming.
- The trouble with that suggestion is that we lack the funds to put it in motion.
- Violent or turbulent occurrence or event; unrest, disturbance.
- the troubles in Northern Ireland
- 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
- “I don’t know how you and the ‘head,’ as you call him, will get on, but I do know that if you call my duds a ‘livery’ again there’ll be trouble. It’s bad enough to go around togged out like a life saver on a drill day, but I can stand that ’cause I'm paid for it. What I won’t stand is to have them togs called a livery. […] ”
- Efforts taken or expended, typically beyond the normal required.
- It’s no trouble for me to edit it.
- 1850, William Cullen Bryant, Letters of a Traveller:
- She never took the trouble to close them.
- 1881, Robert Louis Stevenson, Virginibus Puerisque:
- Indeed, by the report of our elders, this nervous preparation for old age is only trouble thrown away.
- Difficulty in doing something.
- She has trouble eating.
- Health problems, ailment, generally of some particular part of the body.
- He’s been in hospital with some heart trouble.
- A malfunction.
- My old car has engine trouble.
- Liability to punishment; conflict with authority.
- He had some trouble with the law.
- (mining) A fault or interruption in a stratum.
- (Cockney rhyming slang) Wife. Clipping of trouble and strife.
- (slang, dated) An unplanned, unwanted or undesired pregnancy.
- 1971, Bob Stone (lyrics and music), “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves”, performed by Cher:
- I never had schoolin’ but he taught me well / With his smooth southern style / Three months later I’m a gal in trouble / And I haven’t seen him for a while.
Synonyms
edit- See also Thesaurus:difficult situation
Derived terms
edit- ask for trouble
- a trouble shared is a trouble halved
- borrow trouble
- distrouble
- double-trouble
- double trouble
- engine trouble
- finger trouble
- for one's trouble
- foul trouble
- get into trouble
- girl trouble
- good trouble
- go through the trouble
- go to the trouble
- in a world of trouble
- in trouble
- look for trouble
- picking quarrels and making trouble
- picking quarrels and provoking trouble
- picking quarrels and stirring up trouble
- take the trouble
- teething trouble, teething troubles
- The Troubles
- time trouble
- trouble and strife
- trouble at mill
- trouble at the mill
- trouble at t'mill
- trouble causer
- trouble-causer
- troubled
- trouble-free
- trouble in paradise
- trouble light
- trouble-maker
- troublemaker, trouble maker
- trouble-monger
- troubler
- troubleshoot
- troubleshooter
- troubleshooting
- troublesome
- trouble spot
- trouble ticket
- trouble ticket system
- trubs
- women's troubles
Collocations
editDescendants
edit- Jersey Dutch: tröbel
Translations
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See also
edit- Appendix:Collocations of do, have, make, and take for uses and meaning of trouble collocated with these words.
Verb
edittrouble (third-person singular simple present troubles, present participle troubling, simple past and past participle troubled)
- (transitive, now rare) To disturb, stir up, agitate (a medium, especially water).
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 5:4:
- For an Angel went downe at a certaine season into the poole, and troubled the water:
- 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, line 1100:
- God looking forth will trouble all his Hoſt
- (transitive) To mentally distress; to cause (someone) to be anxious or perplexed.
- What she said about narcissism is troubling me.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 12:27:
- Now is my soule troubled, and what shall I say? Father, saue me from this houre, but for this cause came I vnto this houre.
- c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 281, column 2:
- Take the Boy to you: he ſo troubles me, / ’Tis paſt enduring.
- 1693, [John Locke], “§65”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], →OCLC, page 68:
- Never trouble your ſelf about thoſe Faults in them, which you know Age will cure.
- (transitive) In weaker sense: to bother or inconvenience.
- I will not trouble you to deliver the letter.
- (transitive, of ailments, etc.) To physically afflict.
- (reflexive or intransitive) To take pains to do something; to bother.
- I won’t trouble to post the letter today; I can do it tomorrow.
- (intransitive) To worry; to be anxious.
- 1946, Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, I.26:
- Why trouble about the future? It is wholly uncertain.
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editDescendants
edit- → Jersey Dutch: tröble
Translations
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Further reading
edit- “trouble”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “trouble”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Anagrams
editFrench
editPronunciation
editEtymology 1
editDeverbal from troubler or from Old French troble.
Noun
edittrouble m (plural troubles)
- trouble
- (medicine, psychiatry) disorder
- trouble bipolaire ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)
- trouble de la personnalité ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)
- trouble de l’érection ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)
- trouble de l’humeur ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)
- trouble du sommeil ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)
- trouble mental ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)
- trouble obsessionnel compulsif ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)
- trouble psychiatrique ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)
- trouble psychique ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)
Descendants
edit- → German: Trubel
Etymology 2
editInherited from Old French troble, probably from a Vulgar Latin *turbulus (with metathesis), itself perhaps an alteration of Latin turbidus with influence from turbulentus; cf. also turbula. Compare Catalan tèrbol, Romanian tulbure.
Adjective
edittrouble (plural troubles)
Derived terms
editEtymology 3
editSee the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Verb
edittrouble
- inflection of troubler:
Further reading
edit- “trouble”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
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