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:
Dunnett committed the offences after trouble arose in the Sandy Row and Donegall Road areas of south Belfast on 3 August 2024.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026
“The trouble is that since we cannot know what she wanted, we will never know whether or not she got it,” Steinbeck says of Cathy.
From Salon ● Sep. 4, 2026
Hit by US tariffs, patchy demand for electric cars and above all fierce competition in and from China, Europe's largest carmaker is in trouble.
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
Disabling the receptor specifically in tissue-resident macrophages also protected mice from several problems associated with chronic inflammation and aging, including frailty, excess fat accumulation and heart trouble.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 3, 2026
"I'd wait, young lady. You can get into trouble," he shouted.
From "Black Star, Bright Dawn" by Scott O'Dell
"As the number of private lodging businesses has risen, complaints and troubles around them have increased," the official said on customary condition of anonymity.
From Barron's ● Sep. 7, 2026
“Director Matson now blames me for his ostrich troubles and his conflict of interest troubles,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
The diplomat's lawsuit was dismissed five years later, but the businessman's legal troubles did not disappear.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026
It also added a new obligation: Americans now take a course in financial management after they file for bankruptcy to reduce the chance of future money troubles.
From Salon ● Aug. 29, 2026
“We probably should have talked about it more. I guess we all got caught up in our own troubles and worries, and figured talking about it wouldn’t help you at all.”
From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan
But I find myself less troubled by CPL borrowing the language of commerce than delighted by what it has done with it.
From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026
Investing in a little-known private operator will give the U.S. the chance, officials argue, to police the corruption that has long troubled the industry there.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
Milos Kerkez: Occasionally troubled by Fatawu's pace but never in huge difficulties.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
There’s an oft-damaged building at the troubled intersection.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
“Isn’t that right? I thought it was better to do it so, because Meg’s initials are M.M., and I don’t want anyone to use these but Marmee,” said Beth, looking troubled.
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
"Receiving the Russian finance minister here sends a signal I find troubling," Klingbeil said, adding that he made it clear he would not stand with Siluanov for a joint photo.
From Barron's ● Aug. 31, 2026
Being consumed by painful ideas is troubling; filling a stark white room with colorful stickers until they cover every single surface is not.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
And doing so would raise troubling questions about why President Trump is singling out Governor Cook,” Lowell wrote.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026
The efforts speaks to the increasingly stringent — and desperate — measures public agencies and lawmakers in California are attempting in order to stem a troubling rise in e-bike incidents.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
Wherever he went, troubling things seemed to occur.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
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.
