Trouble or affiction of any kind (Deuteronomy 4:30; Matthew 13:21; 2 Corinthians 7:4). In Romans 2:9 "tribulation and anguish" are the penal sufferings that shall overtake the wicked. In Matthew 24:21, 29, the word denotes the calamities that were to attend the destruction of Jerusalem.

Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language

(n.) That which occasions distress, trouble, or vexation; severe affliction.