Tribulation

 WORD OF THE DAY

tribulation / noun / trib-yuh-LAY-shun

Definition
1: distress or suffering resulting from oppression or persecution
2: a trying experience

Examples
"On the road to meet his destiny, Gawain must face a series of fearsome trials, tribulations and temptations as he gradually learns the true nature of chivalry."
— Susan Granger, The Westport (Connecticut) News, 13 Aug.2021

 Garry Kasparov has a pithy way of summing up the past 18 months of tribulation.
— Bret Stephens New York Times, Star Tribune, 6 July 2021

Did You Know?

The writer and Christian scholar Thomas More, in his 1534 work, "A dialoge of comforte against tribulation", defined the title word as "euery such thing as troubleth and greueth [grieveth] a man either in bodye or mynde."
These days, however, the word tribulation is commonly used as a plural noun, paired with trials, and relates less to oppression and more to any kind of uphill struggle.
Tribulation comes from Middle English tribulacion, from the Anglo-French which, in turn, comes from the Latin tribulatio, tribulare to press, oppress.