"distressing" in the verb sense
1. straiten, distress
bring into difficulties or distress, especially financial hardship
2. distress
cause mental pain to
"The news of her child's illness distressed the mother"
"distressing" in the adjective sense
1. distressing, distressful, disturbing, perturbing, troubling, worrisome, worrying
causing distress or worry or anxiety
"distressing (or disturbing) news"
"lived in heroic if something distressful isolation"
"a disturbing amount of crime"
"a revelation that was most perturbing"
"a new and troubling thought"
"in a particularly worrisome predicament"
"a worrying situation"
"a worrying time"
2. deplorable, distressing, lamentable, pitiful, sad, sorry
bad unfortunate
"my finances were in a deplorable state"
"a lamentable decision"
"her clothes were in sad shape"
"a sorry state of affairs"
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
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