Wednesday 28 December 2016

Tribulation

A tribulation is a great affliction or oppression, or the cause of that. The occupants of many abbeys suffered tribulations during the reformation ordered by Henry VIII.

It's a good thing I looked it up before using it anywhere as I'd always imagined it meant a minor source of annoyance. Perhaps I was associating it with trivial?

Did you know what the word meant?

2 comments:

Paige Elizabeth Turner said...

How come I'm the first to post? Not bragging, but yes, I knew/know the word. It is often used in the phrase of 'trials and tribulations' to describe a marriage or relationship. Of course I should know--I've suffered many.

It is a shame that many 'nice' words (some would say pompous) are falling from dictionaries and language. Even we, as writers, are encouraged to write in simple terms, and I guess that in so doing, we face our own tribulations.

Patsy said...

I thought I knew it but wasn't quite right. I think that's probably worse than not knowing it at all.