agonizing
Americanadjective
Usage
What does agonizing mean? Agonizing means filled with or resulting in agony—extreme pain or suffering, especially the kind that lasts for a long time. A close synonym is excruciating. Agony can be physical or emotional, and things that are agonizing can involve physical or emotional pain. A person who has just broken their leg and a person who has just experienced the death of a loved one could both be said to be in agonizing pain. To suffer an agonizing death is to experience an extremely painful one. An agonizing decision is one that is very hard to make due to being emotionally painful in some way. Agonizing is also the continuous tense (-ing form) of the verb agonize, which can mean to be in agony. However, it most commonly means to put forth a great effort—to struggle or strive, as in She’s been agonizing about what to get you for your birthday. Example: She’s down and appears to be in agonizing pain—the trainers are coming onto the field now to help her.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of agonizing
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.
Pessina and her siblings began an agonizing search.
From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 2026
“I want to get back to Venezuela in these agonizing hours,” Machado said in the video she published.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
Once she learned this, he added, finalizing her return wasn’t as agonizing.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 8, 2026
Pulitzer winner Ada Ferrer’s of-the-moment new memoir, “Keeper of My Kin,” examines the agonizing personal costs of the Cuban exile and the families left fractured in its wake.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2026
For the first time in my gymnastics career, I was facing an agonizing decision—high school with my friends, or homeschool at the gym?
From "Courage to Soar" by Simone Biles
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.
