trouble
Americanverb (used with object)
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troubles,
present (3rd person singular)
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troubled,
past participle, past
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troubling
present participle
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to disturb the mental calm and contentment of; worry; distress; agitate.
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to put to inconvenience, exertion, pains, or the like.
May I trouble you to shut the door?
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to cause bodily pain, discomfort, or disorder to; afflict.
to be troubled by arthritis.
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to annoy, vex, or bother.
Don't trouble her with petty complaints now.
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to disturb, agitate, or stir up so as to make turbid, as water or wine.
A heavy gale troubled the ocean waters.
verb (used without object)
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troubles,
present (3rd person singular)
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troubled,
past participle, past
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troubling
present participle
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to put oneself to inconvenience, extra effort, or the like.
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to be distressed or agitated mentally; worry.
She always troubled over her son's solitariness.
noun
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troubles
plural
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difficulty, annoyance, or harassment.
It would be no trouble at all to advise you.
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unfortunate or distressing position, circumstance, or occurrence; misfortune.
Financial trouble may threaten security.
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civil disorder, disturbance, or conflict.
political trouble in the new republic; labor troubles.
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a physical disorder, disease, ailment, etc.; ill health.
heart trouble; stomach trouble.
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mental or emotional disturbance or distress; worry.
Trouble and woe were her lot in life.
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an instance of this.
some secret trouble weighing on his mind; a mother who shares all her children's troubles.
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effort, exertion, or pains in doing something; inconvenience endured in accomplishing some action, deed, etc..
The results were worth the trouble it took.
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an objectionable feature; problem; drawback.
The trouble with your proposal is that it would be too costly to implement.
- Synonyms:
- tribulation, trial, misfortune, affliction
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something or someone that is a cause or source of disturbance, distress, annoyance, etc.
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a personal habit or trait that is a disadvantage or a cause of mental distress.
His greatest trouble is oversensitivity.
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the Troubles,
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the violence and civil war in Ireland, 1920–22.
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the conflict between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland, beginning in 1969.
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idioms
noun
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a state or condition of mental distress or anxiety
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a state or condition of disorder or unrest
industrial trouble
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a condition of disease, pain, or malfunctioning
she has liver trouble
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a cause of distress, disturbance, or pain; problem
what is the trouble?
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effort or exertion taken to do something
he took a lot of trouble over this design
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liability to suffer punishment or misfortune (esp in the phrase be in trouble )
he's in trouble with the police
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a personal quality that is regarded as a weakness, handicap, or cause of annoyance
his trouble is that he's too soft
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(plural)
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political unrest or public disturbances
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political violence in Ireland during the 1920s or in Northern Ireland between the late 1960s and the late 1990s
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the condition of an unmarried girl who becomes pregnant (esp in the phrase in trouble )
verb
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(tr) to cause trouble to; upset, pain, or worry
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to put oneself to inconvenience; be concerned
don't trouble about me
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(intr; usually with a negative) to take pains; exert oneself
please don't trouble to write everything down
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(tr) to cause inconvenience or discomfort to
does this noise trouble you?
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(tr; usually passive) to agitate or make rough
the seas were troubled
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(tr) to interfere with
he wouldn't like anyone to trouble his new bicycle
Synonym Usage
See care.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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troublednessnoun
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troublernoun
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overtroubleverb
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nontroublingadjective
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self-troubledadjective
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self-troublingadjective
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troubledadjective
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untroubledadjective
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troubledlyadverb
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troublinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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troublesimple
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troublessimple
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have troubledperfect
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has troubledperfect
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am troublingprogressive
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are troublingprogressive
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is troublingprogressive
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have been troublingperfect progressive
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has been troublingperfect progressive
Past
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troubledsimple
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had troubledperfect
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was troublingprogressive
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were troublingprogressive
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had been troublingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of trouble
First recorded in 1175–1225; (for the verb) Middle English troublen, from Old French troubler, from Vulgar Latin turbulāre (unrecorded), derivative of turbulus (unrecorded) “turbid,” back formation from Latin turbulentus “restless, unruly”; noun derivative of the verb; see turbulent
Explanation
Trouble is anything that causes difficulty, worry, and inconvenience, or that prevents you from doing something. If you have trouble getting along with a classmate, it is hard to be friendly with him or her. Whether you have trouble finding your shoes, you're in trouble with your teacher, or you go to a lot of trouble buying the kind of tea your sister likes, you face an annoying — and possibly distressing — difficulty. When you use trouble as a verb, it tells who or what is making life hard for you, like a headache that troubles you or childhood memories of encounters with scary clowns that probably trouble you even more deeply.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Radio transmissions show trouble with communications between the air traffic controller and the pilot, the Boston Globe reported, based on transmissions provided by LiveATC.net.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
The real shock to the British public came when word started to trickle out about who was having no trouble getting in.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026
I’m having trouble selling it on StubHub because I waited a while to list it and had to mark up the cost in order to have a chance of making back what I paid.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 3, 2026
Los Angeles officials are bracing for more trouble if the forecast “super” El Niño brings heavy rains and flooding.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
The bear was clearly having trouble following, but there was no slowing Clare now.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
But he said the planned price increases — which are arriving after the price cuts failed to improve sales — suggested deeper troubles.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026
"I face no troubles here," said Mohammad Iqbal, a 53-year-old painter from Uttar Pradesh state who has worked in Kashmir since before the insurgency began and is now accompanied by his son.
From Barron's ● Sep. 14, 2026
They also ran into a rugged Everton defence, with Jarrad Branthwaite magnificent as he stepped up his claims for a place in Thomas Tuchel's next England squad after injury troubles.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
Another iconic California winemaker is having money troubles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
Shackleton also chose Tim McCarthy, one of the seamen who had remained cheerful and steadfast through all their troubles, and who was young and strong.
From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong
That idea clashes with the classical expectation that each particle should possess its own separate physical reality, a feature of quantum mechanics that famously troubled Albert Einstein.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 29, 2026
Kusal was troubled early on by Overton's bouncers, top-edging one into a gap soon after Atkinson dropped a simple chance at fine leg when the right-hander had 17 - another England error.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
One portfolio, known as FS Rialto 2021-FL3, is particularly troubled.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
Only owners of troubled office buildings were willing to take a hit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
These questions had troubled William for much of his career.
From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield
After three plays that managed just a single yard, the Eagles were forced to punt, and it was a sign of a troubling trend.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
Yet it should be a troubling one for the Dodgers, the two-time defending World Series champions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026
The company's forecast for a further decline in revenues was particularly troubling, said Saunders, who called the outlook "shabby."
From Barron's ● Oct. 1, 2026
He said the backdrop of seeing all the world’s developed bond markets selling off simultaneously was troubling.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
One final and all-important piece of the Jeffersonian vision transcended the troubling particularities of domestic politics altogether.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
