harrowing
45
8.2
- adjective
- /ˈhɛrəʊɪŋ/
- After hearing the harrowing news about the accident, she could hardly contain her tears.
- harrowing tales
- harrowing experiences
- the most harrowing
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Watch on YouTubeAnd you know, there it was pretty harrowing, pretty scary.
- And you know, there it was pretty harrowing, pretty scary.
- But yeah, God, that's a harrowing pain too.
- Let go means imagine you were just out on the most harrowing mission of your life.
- Well, I think that, you know, we have been through some harrowing times in the last years.
- But I heard your most harrowing stunt was driving.
- That reminds me of some of my more harrowing efforts to get in and out of Fresno.
- Gabriel Iglesias Fluffy gives us his take on aliens and tells us about a harrowing plane crash.
- So of all the Co parenting situations, this is the most stressful and harrowing for you and your children.
- Denisha's story, Oh my goodness, that was one of the most harrowing things I've heard in a really long time.
- I was thinking about Carbondale and then I remembered that that crack up and how harrowing that was.
- I mean, this story about how he pressured her into getting an abortion was just super harrowing and awful.
- But to give you a specific example from my life, the biggest one, the most harrowing one that I went through was in film school.
- And so it ends up, you know, obviously the third act is going to be pretty harrowing and we'll see which one of these two people come out alive.
- I remember being on a set and we were asking this actor was doing a very emotionally harrowing scene.
Examples
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Others came to America in different and often harrowing conditions.
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I've just been to a very harrowing meeting with families affected.
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Well, I think that, you know, we have been through some harrowing times in the last years.
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That was a particularly harrowing memory.
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Honestly, it's so harrowing and sad.
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There, in that harrowing place, was the absolute absence of care.
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For any other man, this might have been a harrowing experience, but for me, it was nothing short of rapture.
Fiction book (2000) -
Each of the people from Kanchehun that we spoke with had his or her own harrowing tale of loss and of survival.
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Mission sources and administrative correspondence routinely provided harrowing descriptions of suffering.
Academic text (2001) -
She's quite all right, but she evidently had a harrowing experience on her walk this morning.
Fiction book (1990)
Synonyms
200
5.5
Causing great fear or shock
184
6.3
Causing deep emotional pain and lasting fear after a very bad event
173
4.0
Causing worry or distress
134
3.7
Very bad and unpleasant, often causing fear or shock
92
3.7
Causing someone to feel very sad and upset
79
7.0
Very shocking and scary, causing fear or disgust
52
7.9
Causing very strong physical or mental pain
40
5.9
Causing very strong physical or emotional pain
34
4.6
Causing strong worry and emotional pain
17
7.4
That makes you feel very sad and upset
15
8.4
Causing very strong pain to the body or mind
2
9.0
Very bad or difficult and hard to deal with
2
4.2
Very bad or unpleasant in a strong way
1
9.9
Causing very strong physical or mental pain
Antonyms
How Distressing
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
The word harrowing comes from the farm tool harrow, which drags across fields and 'breaks up the ground'. People began to use harrow as a verb meaning 'to cause pain', so something harrowing is like an experience that 'tears you up' inside and is very distressing.