- present participle of suffer.
suffering
Americannoun
-
the pain, misery, or loss experienced by a person who suffers
-
the state or an instance of enduring pain, etc
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of suffering
First recorded in 1350–1400; suffer + -ing 1 ( def. )
Explanation
Suffering is the kind of pain you feel when you shatter your ankle and it's what you'll see all around you if you find yourself in the middle of a tornado or an earthquake. When you're suffering, you're not happy — in fact, you're quite miserable. The Latin roots that give us suffering and related words paint a vivid picture of what suffering feels like. The word comes from sub-, meaning "below," and ferre, "bear." Suffering is something pressing you down that you have to submit to and bear. It's definitely the opposite of fun.
Vocabulary lists containing suffering
Because of Winn-Dixie
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"The Young American" by Ralph Waldo Emerson
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The House of Hades
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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.
See Examples For:
Talarico pointed out that he had participated in campaign events via videoconference while suffering from the flu and also attended a concert in Dallas during the time in question.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
The West has been down the dusty trail before, suffering through the litigation that often results.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
Mourning Israeli civilians, she argued, did not negate the suffering of Palestinians or diminish the struggle against Israel’s government.
From Slate ● Oct. 15, 2026
She had been suffering from multiple diseases, according to the department.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026
“But that’s the point. Even with all the suffering our families went through, we survived. We’re here to tell the story.”
From "Across So Many Seas" by Ruth Behar
The toxins bred in his mind by the brutalities of war cannot be eradicated, even if he can describe his sufferings with such deceptively majestic language.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
Researchers have increasingly linked such sufferings to heavy social media use among adolescents.
From Barron's ● Mar. 25, 2026
"I express my closeness to the sufferings... for all the Israeli people and the Palestinian people," the message said.
From BBC ● Apr. 20, 2025
He reminded Americans that they had “in a common cause fought and triumphed together. The independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint councils and joint efforts—of common dangers, sufferings, and successes.”
From Salon ● Jan. 17, 2025
“I am confused now and hardly know what my impression is, but I have considerable hopes.... Every word about her is precious.... Except at post-time my sufferings are nothing to yours,” she told her husband.
From "Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith" by Deborah Heiligman
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
