n. 1. a. Compulsion by threat or violence; coercion: confessed under duress. b. Constraint or difficulty caused by misfortune: "children who needed only temporary care because their parents were ill, out of work, or under some other form of duress" (Stephan O'Connor). 2. Law a. A fraud achieved through the use of a threat or compulsion: She had a cause of action for duress. His claim was based on duress. b. A criminal defense for an act undertaken under threat of serious bodily harm: His defense was duress. 3. Forcible confinement. [Middle English duresse, harshness, compulsion, from Old French durece, hardness, from Latin dūritia, from dūrus, hard; see deru- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] |
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