duress Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun compulsory force or threat
    • confessed under duress

WordNet

Du"ress noun
Etymology
OF. duresse, du, hardship, severity, L. duritia, durities, fr. durus hard. See Dure.
Definitions
  1. Hardship; constraint; pressure; imprisonment; restraint of liberty.
    The agreements . . . made with the landlords during the time of slavery, are only the effect of duress and force. Burke.
  2. (Law) The state of compulsion or necessity in which a person is influenced, whether by the unlawful restrain of his liberty or by actual or threatened physical violence, to incur a civil liability or to commit an offense.
Du*ress" transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To subject to duress. "The party duressed." Bacon.

Webster 1913