Today’s word of the Day is:
Duress
Duress, which is typically used with under, refers to force or threats meant to make someone do something. It is used especially of unlawful constraint.
Example: The defense asserts that the defendant’s confession was made under duress.
Meaning
- 1 law : forcible restraint or restriction
- While the German army was still held in duress by the Versailles treaty.
- 2 law : compulsion by threat
- Gave the statement under duress
- 3 specifically : unlawful constraint
- Held under duress.
Synonyms for duress
Did you know?
Duress is most often paired with the word under to refer to force or threats meant to make someone do something. For example, someone forced to sign a document signs it “under duress,” and a person held “under duress” is not free to leave but is being constrained, usually unlawfully. (Do not confuse being “under duress” with being “under stress,” which is a much more common occurrence.) Duress is ultimately from Latin durus, meaning “hard,” source too of durable and endure.