Added 9 October 2026
duress
/djʊˈɹɛs/ noun
Latin root: dūritia Wiktionary
noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about duress at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
- Harsh treatment.
- Constraint by threat.
- Restraint in which a person is influenced, whether by lawful or unlawful forceful compulsion of their liberty by monition or implementation of physical enforcement; legally for the incurring of civil liability, of a citizen's arrest, or of subrogation, or illegally for the committing of an offense, of forcing a contract, or of using threats.
verb
Origin
Inherited from Middle English duresse, from Old French duresse, from Latin dūritia (“hardness”), from dūrus (“hard”).
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)