agonizing
Americanadjective
Usage
What does agonizing mean? Agonizing means filled with or resulting in agony—extreme pain or suffering, especially the kind that lasts for a long time. A close synonym is excruciating. Agony can be physical or emotional, and things that are agonizing can involve physical or emotional pain. A person who has just broken their leg and a person who has just experienced the death of a loved one could both be said to be in agonizing pain. To suffer an agonizing death is to experience an extremely painful one. An agonizing decision is one that is very hard to make due to being emotionally painful in some way. Agonizing is also the continuous tense (-ing form) of the verb agonize, which can mean to be in agony. However, it most commonly means to put forth a great effort—to struggle or strive, as in She’s been agonizing about what to get you for your birthday. Example: She’s down and appears to be in agonizing pain—the trainers are coming onto the field now to help her.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of agonizing
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Agonizing stretches such as this consume would-be contenders annually, but that offers little consolation to those enduring them because each one feels like its own puzzling affliction.
From Washington Post • Jun. 3, 2022
Agonizing over what could have been a universal indulgence, part of that much ballyhooed tyranny of choice once cited as the Millennials' existential scourge.
From Salon • Dec. 12, 2021
Agonizing over the details, Philippe missed his book deadline.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 26, 2021
Agonizing history has passed through those hearing rooms.
From Washington Times • Sep. 27, 2018
Agonizing second followed agonizing second as the officer seemed to ponder what to do with me.
From "The Boy on the Wooden Box" by Leon Leyson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
