Synonyms for tribulation
Most common
All synonyms
Noun
1. Trial
trial, grief, distress, trouble, affliction, suffering, travail, misery, sorrow, ordeal, misfortune, visitation, calamity, anguish, hardship, woe, adversity, wretchedness, unhappiness
Other
Definitions
- n. 1
Any adversity; a trying period or event.
Baltimore's tribulations were indeed sore; there was no peace for him day nor night.
Forms
- Plural
- tribulations → trials, griefs, distresses, troubles…
Choose the right word
Affliction, chastening, trial, and tribulation have all an especially religious bearing, suggesting some disciplinary purpose of God with beneficent design. Affliction may be keen and bitter, but brief; tribulation is long and wearing.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- trial Some believed Nixon should have been put on trial.
- suffering I have a headache and I am suffering from a cough.
- grief There are five stages of grief. Stage one: denial.
- affliction That which is a feast to one is an affliction to another.
- persecution He could not shake off his persecution complex.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| tribulation | rising | |
| trial | falling | |
| suffering | rising | |
| grief | rising | |
| affliction | rising | |
| persecution | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 3 letters
- woe1
- 5 letters
- trial2, grief1
- 6 letters
- misery3, sorrow2, ordeal2
- 7 letters
- trouble2, anguish2, travail2
- 8 letters
- distress2, hardship2, calamity4
- 9 letters
- suffering3, adversity4
- 10 letters
- misfortune3, visitation4, affliction3
- 11 letters
- persecution4, unhappiness4
- 12 letters
- wretchedness
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (trial2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- tribulation
- Italiano
- tribolazione