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Glite Dictionary
😣 To suffer deeply 💔 To cause pain
to agonize

to agonize

14 6.7
To feel very strong pain or deep worry
  • verb
  • /ˈæɡəˌnaɪz/
  • US
translation icon : angustiarse
  • These past few months, I've agonized over it, about whether I should destroy it.

Why do we agonize over our existence?

Examples

  • Isabelle asked herself once more the questions that she had agonized over since her daughter's death.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • Once again, he agonized about whether to show them to Karen and to the administration.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Why do we agonize over our existence?

    Gregory B. Sadler - That Philosophy Guy

  • I slave, I agonize for them.

    Quo Vadis (1951)

  • I don't think you should agonize over it, Peg.

    The Conjuring 2 (2016)

  • Like all men with prostate cancer, African Americans also agonize over the physical and emotional effects of the disease.

    Academic text (2003)

  • Tears running down her face, Sarah listened to her father's agonized attempt to comfort her mother.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Always, my husband and I silently agonized with her but acted and spoke to her as reassuring adults.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • In the hands of Shakespeare, the prince was an enigma, a portrait of agonized indecision.

    Academic text (2007)

  • Many students agonize over their exam results for weeks.

Synonyms

to suffer
vsto agonize
∞ 2.0

To feel pain or be ill

means to feel extreme pain rather than general or mild harm
to anguish
vsto agonize
4 7.3

To cause someone to feel very strong pain or worry

is about personally feeling very intense mental or physical pain

Antonyms

to ease
305 2.1

To make something less painful or difficult

to comfort
172 1.0

To make someone feel less upset or in pain

How Painful

to agonize
  • US
14 6.7
to suffer
∞ 2.0
to hurt
∞ 1.0
to ache
25 1.0

Surface Forms

agonize infinitive
agonized past
agonized past participle
agonizing present participle
agonizes third person singular

Morphology

agonize = agony (transparent) = agony + ize

The verb is a straightforward derivation from the noun 'agony' with the productive suffix '-ize' meaning 'to experience or cause to experience agony'.

Etymology

Agonize comes from an old Greek word agon meaning 'struggle' or 'contest', and it shares the same root as agony, which means 'great pain'. So to agonize is to suffer strong pain or worry.