throes
Britishplural noun
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a condition of violent pangs, pain, or convulsions
death throes
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struggling with great effort with
a country in the throes of revolution
Explanation
Did your team just lose the Super Bowl or the World Series? You're probably in the throes of despair — experiencing intense feelings of suffering and agitation. Although we normally associate the throes of some emotion or physical sensation to be an unpleasant state, that's not always the case. Some throes teeter on the borderline between delight and despair. Check out Bernini's sculpture in Rome of St. Theresa in the throes of spiritual ecstasy. Is she terrified or thrilled? Impossible to separate the two. She's in the throes.
Vocabulary lists containing throes
A Spelling Bee for Fun
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"The Odyssey" by Homer, Books 19–24
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "T"
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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.
Just a few hours after the unveiling of Nico Gonzalez, Matthias Jaissle made it clear he would continue to push for further deals in the final throes of the window.
From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026
Bret may lament childhood’s demise, but if you had helicopter parents, these throes probably look less like trash than fire.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2026
The National Football League is in the throes of a dome boom.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
First filmed before the pandemic and launched in its throes, a survivor of the era of streaming wars, corporate consolidation and Hollywood strikes, HBO’s addictively dissolute workplace drama remains as ambitious and authoritative as ever.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2026
Today’s affluent societies are in the throes of a plague of obesity, which is rapidly spreading to developing countries.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
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.
