adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of anguished
Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at anguish, -ed 3
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.
There are anguished conversations with parents who are desperate for their child to be kept alive, despite doctors saying there is no hope.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
"Literally, the entire group was there in the building, this is a terrible and extraordinary event," he said, as anguished wails from other pilgrims with him are heard over the video.
From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026
Alas, the results are mixed, betraying the stark limits of this approach and the need for a kind of history that fully integrates anguished medieval chronicles with modern molecular evidence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
That kind of anguished, not-funny witticism is another commonplace of the American educated classes: OMG, what has happened to this country?
From Salon ● May 31, 2026
He hadn’t seen anything but what was really before him—the faces of the four singers, those four ordinary men, cow-eyed and mindless and anguished as they went from sweetness to sourness to sweetness again.
From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
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.
