agony column

noun

a section or column in a newspaper containing advertisements by individuals seeking missing relatives or lost pets or possessions, announcing the end of a marriage, etc.

Origin of agony column

First recorded in 1860–65

Words Nearby agony column

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use agony column in a sentence

Reynolds wrote an agony column, “Susan Chester Heart-to-Heart Letters,” for the Brooklyn Eagle.
American Dreams, 1933: Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathanael West | Nathaniel Rich | April 29, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
As everybody knows, the agony column of a daily paper is not actually so domestic as it seems.
Once a Week | Alan Alexander Milne
I read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column.
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes | A. Conan Doyle
It is my habit to read the “agony column” (as it is flippantly called), the second column in the outer sheet of the Times.
In the Wrong Paradise | Andrew Lang
This string of intimate messages, popularly known as the agony column, has long been an honored institution in the English press.
The Agony Column | Earl Derr Biggers

At this point West's strawberries arrived and even the agony column could not hold his interest.
The Agony Column | Earl Derr Biggers

British Dictionary definitions for agony column

agony column

noun

a magazine or newspaper feature in which advice is offered to readers who have sent in letters about their personal problems
a part of a newspaper containing advertisements for lost relatives, personal messages, etc

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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