agonizing
- adjective
- /ˈæɡəˌnaɪzɪŋ/
- US
- All eyes turn her way, and she stands there, paralyzed in an agonizing moment of dead silence.
- agonizing decision
- agonizing choice
- agonizing moment
Reconstruction was one long, agonizing referendum on the meaning of the war.
- Reconstruction was one long, agonizing referendum on the meaning of the war.
- And then to discover you're wrong is a agonizing experience.
- I didn't realize I had a fibroid, which basically caused me agonizing pain.
- Yet the agonizing thinking all day long has its way to to burden a person.
- The dynamics of that, the reveals of information is the sort of like twists or shocks or turns, just just pacing that I was the agonizing part.
Examples
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After the breakup, she went through an agonizing period of depression.
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There was this agonizing feeling, and I couldn't get back to it.
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With an agonizing effort, I made myself get off the bed.
Fiction book (1996) -
- It's slow and agonizing.
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To leave his love is equally agonizing for it means to feel alone and abandoned.
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It was a complete, agonizing failure, and all for a hole in the ground.
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It's a slow, agonizing, soul-sucking death.
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It's the most agonizing and grueling military training on Earth.
Academic text (2011) -
And each day that Temple avoided his gaze became more agonizing.
Fiction book (1994) -
I didn't realize I had a fibroid, which basically caused me agonizing pain.
Synonyms
Making someone feel physical hurt or strong emotional upset
Causing someone to feel very sad and upset
Too painful or unpleasant to stand
Causing very strong physical or mental pain
Causing strong worry and emotional pain
Causing very strong fear or sadness
Causing great pain or sorrow
Causing very strong pain to the body or mind
That makes you feel very sad and upset
Causing very strong emotional or physical pain
Causing very strong physical or mental pain
Antonyms
How Painful
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Agonizing comes from the old Greek root agon meaning 'struggle' and from the English word agony. So, think of something agonizing as a strong struggle of the body or mind that causes 'extreme pain' or worry.