in the throes

1. In the midst of, especially of a difficult struggle. For example, The country was in the throes of economic collapse, or We were in the throes of giving a formal dinner when my in-laws arrived. The noun throe, meaning “a severe pang or spasm of pain,” was at first used mainly for such physical events as childbirth or dying. Today it is used both seriously (first example) and more lightly (second example). [Mid-1800s]

Example Sentences

Silver’s subsequent disappearance and the bombing death of his business partner, Holly Lewis, reveals the pair was in the throes of selling a small fortune in bitcoin.

From Los Angeles Times

The fine new indie drama “Plainclothes,” which takes place in 1997 in Syracuse, N.Y., and centers on a young police officer in the throes of desire, wants to remind us that the reality of such reckonings was a bit more fraught.

From Los Angeles Times

"Can you imagine what it took for them and their families and communities to achieve this? To study and take exams and fill out applications in the throes of a genocide, under bombs, without electricity and on empty stomachs," he said.

From BBC

In the throes of what now feels like a systematic assault on our way of life in multiethnic American urban centers, not merely targeting the “the worst of the worst” but anyone with brown skin.

From Los Angeles Times

Legal scholars argue we’re in the throes of a constitutional crisis.

From Salon