1
as in horrors
a situation or state that causes great suffering and unhappiness
waiting all those hours to hear if he'd survived the plane crash was pure agony
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in pains
a state of great suffering of body or mind
the agony of never knowing what happened to her son
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in explosions
a sudden intense expression of strong feeling
the announcement that the war was over unleashed a mass agony of joy
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of agonies
Hadi’s exceptional attention gives cinematic identity to collective artisanal energy, to the life force of care and devotion that stands outside the agonies of politics, to the spirit that endures a regime and outlives it.
—
Richard Brody, New Yorker, 10 Feb. 2026
Richard Brody, New Yorker, 10 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for agonies
Noun
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Joshua Hammer There has never been a moral and historical reckoning with the horrors inflicted by the Allied firebombing of Japan during World War II.—
Giri Nathan,
The New York Review of Books,
21 Mar. 2026
-
What horrors await her, us, and the rest of the entertainment industry?—
Jackson McHenry,
Vulture,
20 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Paktyawal began complaining of shortness of breath and chest pains while being held in a holding room at the Dallas ICE field office on Friday evening and was taken to the hospital to receive breathing treatment, the agency said.—
Aarón Torres,
Dallas Morning News,
15 Mar. 2026
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The agency, in the years since, has taken pains to culturally move away from that attitude in favor of an approach that sees STAR as a standalone response option on equal footing with police, firefighters and paramedics.—
Shelly Bradbury,
Denver Post,
15 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Heavy explosions shook Dubai early Friday as air defenses intercepted incoming fire over the city, where people were observing Eid al-Fitr, the end of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, and mosques made the day's first call to prayers.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
21 Mar. 2026
-
Heavy explosions shook Dubai as air defenses intercepted incoming fire over the city, where many were observing Eid al-Fitr, the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
21 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Its owners have noted chilling ill effects after the art’s arrival, like insomnia, nightmares, and a sense of being constantly watched.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
19 Mar. 2026
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Even as the industry leans into horror at the box office and in the press, its upper echelon shows an equally strong urge to use the genre’s intensity as an excuse to look away from the nightmares that most need illuminating.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
17 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Similar scoring outbursts from the Case Western Reserve recruit were not forthcoming, of course.—
Steve Reaven,
Chicago Tribune,
14 Mar. 2026
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This undersells the singular malignance of her outbursts, which drove away Black and white allies alike.—
Moira Donegan,
New Yorker,
13 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
And allergy miseries don’t end after the spring.—
Tom Gavin,
EverydayHealth.com,
11 Mar. 2026
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Dengler endured endless torture and other miseries — escaping from prison was just the beginning of his ordeal in the jungle — but Bale plays him as a determined optimist, an indomitable spirit that cannot be crushed.—
Tim Grierson,
Vulture,
7 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Yet Grace is the one who wakes up in space, and this story emerges nonlinearly, narrative flashbacks like bursts of memory ripping through his brain, discombobulated after a long intergalactic coma.—
Katie Walsh,
Boston Herald,
19 Mar. 2026
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Most are performed for five-second bursts, in sets of 15.—
Gilad Edelman,
The Atlantic,
15 Mar. 2026
Noun
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In that final part of the cycle—the writing part—were torments, perhaps even tortures, but good things happened.—
Jake Lundberg,
The Atlantic,
19 Feb. 2026
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Former Jews deemed insufficiently converted faced the Spanish Inquisition’s tortures.—
David Bloom,
Forbes.com,
17 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Agonies.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/agonies. Accessed 22 Mar. 2026.
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