1
as in to persecute
to cause persistent suffering to
got into more trouble, further agonizing her poor mother
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to grieve
to feel deep sadness or mental pain
agonized for days over whether she'd done the right thing
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of agonize
Worse, Liu’s one-dimensional moll spends the majority of her supporting screen time agonizing over toxic men, despite the actor’s best efforts to elevate the material.
—
Courtney Howard, Variety, 20 Feb. 2025
The only person with anything resembling nuance of complexity is Caleb, the white cop who agonizes over having pulled the trigger.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 20 Mar. 2025
Organizations often spend too much time agonizing over how to articulate and execute the perfect AI strategy.
—Clint Boulton, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2025
Instead of agonizing over slides, spend your time refining your product, recruiting top talent and proving product-market fit.
—Courtne Marland, Forbes, 21 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for agonize
Courtney Howard, Variety, 20 Feb. 2025
The only person with anything resembling nuance of complexity is Caleb, the white cop who agonizes over having pulled the trigger.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 20 Mar. 2025
Organizations often spend too much time agonizing over how to articulate and execute the perfect AI strategy.
—Clint Boulton, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2025
Instead of agonizing over slides, spend your time refining your product, recruiting top talent and proving product-market fit.
—Courtne Marland, Forbes, 21 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for agonize
Recent Examples of Synonyms for agonize
Verb
-
No truly advanced society persecutes animals for sport.—
Letters to the Editor,
The Orlando Sentinel,
7 May 2025
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During its reign of terror, the Ustaše regime persecuted and murdered hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Jews and Roma, as well as Croatians opposed to their rule.—
Larry Luxner,
Sun Sentinel,
5 May 2025
Verb
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Beneath the bondage and demands, there’s genuine caring between Ray and Colin, like when the former assembles his crew to celebrate the latter’s birthday, or when Ray helps a grieving Colin collect himself.—
Glenn Garner,
Deadline,
18 May 2025
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Set in the near future after Ukraine has emerged victorious in its war with Russia, the film follows a philosophy professor grieving the death of his wife whose life is upended when the ancient Greek gods return to Earth.—
Christopher Vourlias,
Variety,
18 May 2025
Verb
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Another equipment outage struck air traffic controllers for Newark Liberty International Airport on Sunday morning, briefly disrupting some inbound flights and further highlighting the ongoing technology issues plaguing the airport.—
Zach Wichter,
USA Today,
12 May 2025
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The last five years have brought back weaknesses that plagued Kohli early in his career as a brash but fiercely talented batter.—
Anantaajith Raghuraman,
New York Times,
12 May 2025
Verb
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Henry Long, the father of the victim, released a statement mourning the death of his daughter and calling for Finch to stay in jail.—
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten,
FOXNews.com,
7 May 2025
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Since the death of Pope Francis on April 21, a total of 220 cardinals -- the church's highest-ranking clergy -- have gathered in Rome to mourn the loss of the former pontiff and begin the secret conclave.—
Megan Forrester,
ABC News,
7 May 2025
Verb
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But in the midst of profound uncertainty and genuine pain and dislocation afflicting many, to convey confidence in addressing a highly volatile and fundamentally uncertain future would be inauthentic, and likely to be seen as such.—
Paul Laudicina,
Forbes.com,
8 May 2025
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Alhurra is subject to the same forces afflicting all TV networks, with audiences increasingly finding their news on TikTok and YouTube.—
Nabih Bulos,
Los Angeles Times,
3 May 2025
Verb
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The light turned from orange to dull gray, and then Joe nudged my aching ribs — the tiger was standing in a glade 60 yards downhill.—
Cyril E. Holland,
Outdoor Life,
8 May 2025
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Hartnett deserves a medal for doing some of his acrobatic stunts (your back will ache watching him and stunt performers athletically bouncing about) as do the sound designers who make each smack, punch and crunch sound so real.—
Randy Myers,
Mercury News,
7 May 2025
Verb
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The duo were accused of torturing and killing Micah in March 2018 in the garage of Queen's friend Matthew Vandecasteele over a missing gun dispute, then dismembering Micah and disposing of his body parts.—
Emily Krauser,
People.com,
12 May 2025
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Airlines would just shrink the size of their seats even more, leaving all of us scrambling desperately to feel a little less tortured on our next flights.—
Christopher Elliott,
USA Today,
10 May 2025
Verb
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Another potential juror, questioned for about 25 minutes, continually sighed and trailed off in his speech.—
Edward Segarra,
USA Today,
10 May 2025
-
Nate sighed dramatically before dipping his chin to his chest.—
Lindsay Schnell,
New York Times,
28 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Agonize.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/agonize. Accessed 22 May. 2025.
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