1. the negative stress response, often involving negative affect and physiological reactivity: a type of stress that results from being overwhelmed by demands, losses, or perceived threats. It has a detrimental effect by generating physical and psychological maladaptation and posing serious health risks for individuals. This generally is the intended meaning of the word stress. Compare eustress.

2. a negative emotional state in which the specific quality of the emotion is unspecified or unidentifiable. For example, stranger anxiety in infants is more properly designated stranger distress because the infant’s negative behavior, typically crying, allows no more specific identification of the emotion. —distressing adj.