Quick Definition
στενοχωρία, ας, ἡ n.f. a narrow space, great distress
Strong's Definition
narrowness of room, i.e. (figuratively) calamity
Derivation: from a compound of G4728 (στενός) and G5561 (χώρα);
KJV Usage: anguish, distress
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament
noun, f. | -ας | στενάζω + χωρέω
22.10 · Trouble, Hardship, Relief, Favorable Circumstances · Trouble, Hardship, Distress
distress, difficulty a set of difficult circumstances, implying certain restrictions ‘Distress’ may be expressed in some languages as ‘people will be in trouble’ or in an idiomatic expression, ‘the world will fall on people.’
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament © United Bible Societies, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
στενοχωρία, -as, 7, (στενόχωρος), narrowness of place, a narrow space, (Is. viii. 22 [al. take this as metaph.]; Thuce., Plat., al.); metaph. dire calamity, extreme afjliction, [A. V. distress, anguish]: Ro. ii. 9; viii. 35; 2 Co. vi. 4; xii.10. (Deut. xxviii. 53, 55, 57; Sir. x. 26; [Sap. v. 3]; 1 Mace. ii. 53; xiii. 3; Polyb. 1,67,1; [Artemid. oneir. 3, 14]; Ael. v. h. 2, 41; [al.].) [Cf Trench 8 lv.]
Mounce Concise Greek Dictionary
στενοχωρία stenochōria 4x
pr. narrowness of place, a narrow place; met. straits, distress, anguish, Rom. 2:9; 8:35; 2 Cor. 6:4; 12:10*
Abbott-Smith Greek Lexicon
στενοχωρία, -ας, ἡ (v. supr.)
[in LXX for צוּקָה, etc. ;]
narrowness of space, want of room (Thuc., al.). Metaph. (Xen., Polyb., De 28:53, Wi 5:3, al.), difficulty, distress: θλίψις καὶ (ἢ) σ., Ro 2:9 8:35 (EV, anguish); pl. (cf. Bl., § 32, 6; WM, 220), II Co 6:4 12:10.†
SYN.: θλίψις, q.v
Trench — Synonyms of the New Testament
THESE words were often joined together. Thus στενοχωρία, occurring only four times in the N. T., is on three of these associated with θλῆψις (Rom. ii. 9; vill. 353 2 Cor. vi. 4; cf. Deut. xxviii. 55; Isai. vill. 22; xxx. 6). So too the verbs θλίβειν and στενοχωρεῖν (2 Cor. iv. 8; cf. Lucian, Nigrin. 13; Artemidorus, i. 79; ii. 37). From the antithesis at 2 Cor. iv. 8, θλιβόμενοι, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ στενοχωρούμενοι, and from the fact that, wherever in the N. T. the words occur together, στενοχωρία always occurs last, we may conclude that, whatever be the difference of meaning, στενοχωρία is the stronger word. They indeed express very nearly the same thing, but not under the same image. Θλῖψιες (joined with βάσανος at Ezek. xii. 18, with ἀνάγκη, Zeph. i. 15, and for which we have the form θλιμμός, Exod. iii. 9; Deut. xxvi. 7) is properly pressure, ‘pressura,’ ‘tribulatio,—which last διν. SYNONYMS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 203 word in Church-Latin, whereto it belongs, had a metaphorical sense,—that which presses upon or burdens the spirit ; I should have said ‘ angor,’ the more that Cicero (Tuse. iv. 8) explains this ‘zgritudo premens,’ but that the connexion of ‘angor’ with ‘angst,’ ‘enge’ (see Grimm, Worterbuch, s. v. Angst; and Max Miiller, On the Science of Language, 1861, vol. i. p. 366, makes it better to reserve this for στενοχωρία. The proper meaning of στενοχωρία is narrowness of room, confined space, ‘ angustiz,’ and then the painfulness of which this is the occasion: ἀπορία στενή and στενοχωρία occurring together, Isai. viii. 22. It is used literally by Thucydides, vii. 70: being sometimes exchanged for ducχωρία: by Plutarch (Symp. v. 6) set over against dveots ; while in the Septuagint it expresses the straitness of a siege (Deut. xxvill. 53, 57). It is once employed in a secondary and metaphorical sense in the O. T. (στενοχωρία πνεύματος, Wisd. v. 3); this being the only sense which it knows in the New. The fitness of this image is attested by the frequency with which on the other hand a state of joy is expressed in the Psalms and elsewhere as a bringing into a large room (πλατυσμός, Ps. exvii. 5; 2 Sam. xxii. 20; Keclus. xlvii. 12; Clement of Rume, Cor. 3; Origen, De Orat. 30; εὐρυχωρία, Marcus Antoninus, ix. 32); so that whether Aquinas intended an etymology or not, and most probably he did, he certainly uttered a truth, when he said, ‘ letitia est quasi latitia.’ When, according tothe ancient law of England, those who wilfully refused to plead had heavy weights placed on their breasts, and were so pressed and crushed to death, this was literally θλῖψις. When Bajazet, vanquished by Tamerlane, was carried about by him in an iron cage, if indeed the story be true, this was στενοχωρία : or, as we do not know that any suffering there ensued from actual narrowness of room, we may more fitly adduce the ouwbliettes in which Louis XI. shut up his victims ; or the ‘ little204. SYNONYMS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. § v1. ease’' by which, according to Lingard, the Roman Catholics in Queen Elizabeth’s reign were tortured; ‘it was of so small dimensions and so constructed, that the prisoners could neither stand, walk, sit, nor lie at full length in it.’ For some considerations on the awful sense in which Oris and στενοχωρία shall both, according to St. Paul’s words (Rom. ii. 9), be the portion of the lost, see Gerhard, Loc. Theoll, xxxi. 6. 52.
Moulton & Milligan — Vocabulary of the Greek NT
Liddell-Scott-Jones — Greek-English Lexicon
στενοχωρία (stenochōria) — hardship. στενοχωρ-ία, Ionic dialect -ίη, ἡ, narrowness of space, a confined space, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; want of room, by sea or land, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; opposed to εὐρυχωρία and ἄνεσις, [Refs 1st c.AD+], compare 182b; σ. βίου the short space of life remaining, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]
II. metaphorically, straits, difficulty, ἡ σ. τοῦ ποταμοῦ difficulty of passing the river, [LXX+5th c.BC+]; distress, [Refs 2nd c.BC+]; ἡ τῆς πόλεως [NT+2nd c.BC+]; also, narrow limits, probably in [Refs 5th c.BC+]
STEPBible — Tyndale Abridged Greek Lexicon
📖 Greek Word Study — In-Depth Study from Precept Austin
Distress (4730) stenochoria