trouble

Pronunciation: /ˈtɹʌb.əl/

Reading level: medium

Estimated CEFR level: A2 — Elementary

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a source of difficulty
  2. noun an angry disturbance
  3. noun an event causing distress or pain

Etymology

Verb is from Middle English troublen, trouble, 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 trouble, troble, from Old French troble, from the verb.

In classic literature

Synonyms

problem

Semantic network

Broader (hypernyms)
difficulty
Narrower (hyponyms)
deep water, can of worms, hydra, matter, growing pains, pressure point

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