1
as in painful
hard to accept or bear especially emotionally
agonizing cries rose up from the dungeon
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in wrenching
intensely or unbearably painful
died an agonizing death
Synonyms & Similar Words
1
as in suffering
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
2
as in indecision
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
1
as in plaguing
to cause persistent suffering to
got into more trouble, further agonizing her poor mother
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in grieving
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 agonizing
Richard Brody, New Yorker, 3 Apr. 2026
Miller’s 1968 play, written during the agonizing days of the Vietnam War, concerns the disposition of the remains of a once-illustrious estate.
—Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 1 Apr. 2026
Rand Richards Cooper, Hartford Courant, 8 Jan. 2026
Hadley Hall Meares, Vanity Fair, 26 Dec. 2025
Their injuries are stomach-turning, their cries agonizing.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 1 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for agonizing
Adjective
His disaffection baffles his acquaintances and pains his tubercular wife (a superb Quinn Jackson), whose doctor (Lambert Tamin) has only contempt for her husband’s agonizing.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 3 Apr. 2026
Miller’s 1968 play, written during the agonizing days of the Vietnam War, concerns the disposition of the remains of a once-illustrious estate.
—Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 1 Apr. 2026
Noun
My agonizing over a coin toss illustrates the basic distortion that gambling exerts on spectating.
—Rand Richards Cooper, Hartford Courant, 8 Jan. 2026
Verb
In her second memoir, Keaton still admits to agonizing over her thinning hair.
—Hadley Hall Meares, Vanity Fair, 26 Dec. 2025
Their injuries are stomach-turning, their cries agonizing.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 1 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for agonizing
Recent Examples of Synonyms for agonizing
Adjective
-
In parched southern Texas, a yearslong drought has depleted Corpus Christi's water reserves so gravely that the city is scrambling to prevent a shortage that could force painful cutbacks for residents and hobble the refineries and petrochemical plants in a major energy port.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
12 Apr. 2026
-
In parched southern Texas, a yearslong drought has depleted Corpus Christi’s water reserves so gravely that the city is scrambling to prevent a shortage that could force painful cutbacks for residents and hobble the refineries and petrochemical plants in a major energy port.—
Michael Phillis,
Fortune,
12 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Another wrenching question, of course, is whether at least the younger Perez siblings would want or need to go with Olga to Guatemala if she were deported.—
Tim Padgett,
Sun Sentinel,
27 Mar. 2026
-
These four novels create a convincing, wrenching, kaleidoscopic picture of the range and repetitions of the most fatal kind of love; the sort of love that allows nothing else to grow around it, that eradicates all dignity; a love which, in order to be completed, must be told.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
17 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Reducing preventable complications spares patients unnecessary suffering and lowers costs for families, employers, and insurers alike.—
Mathias P. Bostrom,
Fortune,
16 Apr. 2026
-
When police got there, Spruill was trapped inside his vehicle and suffering from two broken bones, authorities said.—
Nate Gartrell,
Mercury News,
16 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Augusta National can still take a bite out of anyone with enough swirling gusts to bring indecision, or bad shots that wind up in the wrong spot.—
Doug Ferguson,
Chicago Tribune,
9 Apr. 2026
-
In the case of any indecision, the call will ultimately go to Wiseman.—
Nicole Fallert,
USA Today,
1 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
The incident is one in a string of recent crimes that have been plaguing San Fernando Valley residents.—
Dean Fioresi,
CBS News,
16 Apr. 2026
-
As those dry earlier, so do fuels lower down, exacerbating a drought already plaguing the West’s high plains.—
Christine Peterson,
Outdoor Life,
15 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
The alternative was to remain holed up in their Bushwick apartment, grieving.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
14 Apr. 2026
-
Under the exquisite surface is something quite moving, a grieving family grappling with the kinds of big, swirling, complicated feelings that make life hard and art great.—
Debby Wolfinsohn,
Entertainment Weekly,
13 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Even in the harshest descriptions of the violence and almost unbelievably cruel twists of fate that Yarris endured (the DNA testing keeps getting accidentally mucked up), Brody lends him a vital indomitable spark.—
Jackson McHenry,
Vulture,
16 Apr. 2026
-
When the camera's weren't rolling, McCracken says, Couric gave some harsh advice.—
Charles Trepany,
USA Today,
16 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Activists claim the animals were living in torturous conditions and were being used for medical research.—
Brady Halbleib,
CBS News,
18 Apr. 2026
-
But sad books need not be torturous books.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
15 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Agonizing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/agonizing. Accessed 18 Apr. 2026.
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