agonize

verb

ag·​o·​nize ˈa-gə-ˌnīz 

agonized; agonizing

transitive verb

: to cause to suffer agony : torture

intransitive verb

1

: to suffer agony, torture, or anguish

agonizes over every decision

2

: struggle

… baseless wisdom … requires that a writer … must agonize … for a minimum of two years for each one that he spends writing.

—George V. Higgins

Synonyms of agonize

• persecute
• plague
• afflict
• torture
• bother
• anguish
• torment
• besiege

Examples of agonize in a Sentence

got into more trouble, further agonizing her poor mother

agonized for days over whether she'd done the right thing

Recent Examples on the Web

The Canadian musician had agonized over writing the song in the first place. —NPR, 6 Nov. 2025

That doesn’t mean the Giants’ new manager didn’t agonize over his decision to leave the University of Tennessee. —Laurence Miedema, Mercury News, 24 Oct. 2025

This is nail-biting stuff, agonizing to sit through. —Bill Goodykoontz, AZCentral.com, 6 Oct. 2025

The second is that the Big Tech platforms have, for years, begrudgingly agonized over content-moderation decisions. —Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 1 Oct. 2025

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Middle French agoniser "to exercise, struggle, suffer, (in past participle agonisé) torment," borrowed from Medieval Latin agōnizāre "to struggle, suffer death pangs," going back to Late Latin, "to fight, wrestle," borrowed from Greek agōnízesthai "to contest, fight," verbal derivative of agṓn "assembly, contest" — more at agony

First Known Use

1570, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 2

Rhymes for agonize

• advertise
• aggrandize
• alibis
• alkalies
• alkalis
• amortize
• amplifies
• analyse
• analyze
• anywise
• authorize
• butterflies

Kids Definition

agonize

verb

ag·​o·​nize ˈag-ə-ˌnīz 

agonized; agonizing

: to suffer or cause to suffer extreme pain or anguish of body or mind

agonizingly

-ˌnī-ziŋ-lē

adverb