crown of thorns
- noun
- Literature
:
carga
- No, it's my shame, my crown of thorns.
Examples
-
Oh, dear madam, if you was to know... what a crown of thorns I've borne in my search for them strayed chicks.
-
As mothers do, she will call it her crown of thorns.
Fiction book (1996) -
Many artists portray the struggles of life as a crown of thorns that must be worn with grace.
-
In her memoir, she described her illness as a constant crown of thorns that she had to endure every day.
-
He spoke of his past mistakes as a crown of thorns that he had to bear while trying to make amends.
Synonyms
293
4.0
A shape with a vertical piece and a horizontal piece used as a Christian sign
70
5.6
Great physical or mental pain someone feels
1
7.0
Something that keeps causing you trouble or worry
Antonyms
How Painful
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is directly compositional: 'crown' + 'of' + 'thorns' straightforwardly denotes a crown made from thorns, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words can infer the literal object. While the deeper Christian/religious significance (mockery/torture of Jesus) requires background knowledge, the basic referent is transparent from the parts.
Etymology
Crown of thorns is used to mean a 'source of suffering' because it brings to mind wearing a painful ring of sharp thorns on the head; like that, the phrase describes a burden or problem that causes constant pain or trouble.