1
as in painful
hard to accept or bear especially emotionally
agonizing cries rose up from the dungeon
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
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
Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 20 Feb. 2026
The idea of eschewing typical model generations might sound refreshing to the company’s designers, but it’s bound to be agonizing for consumers.
—Adam Ismail, The Drive, 18 Feb. 2026
Rand Richards Cooper, Hartford Courant, 8 Jan. 2026
Thomas Drance, New York Times, 30 Sep. 2025
Playoff roster decisions are agonizing for every Major League Baseball front office, but the Toronto Blue Jays are dealing with some particularly tough calls this year.
—Jackson Roberts, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for agonizing
Adjective
Her fall comes after a number of agonizing, ultimately fruitless efforts to get help.
—Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 20 Feb. 2026
The idea of eschewing typical model generations might sound refreshing to the company’s designers, but it’s bound to be agonizing for consumers.
—Adam Ismail, The Drive, 18 Feb. 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
As a result, the sort of trade talks and deals that Vancouver is currently exploring, weighing and even agonizing about in advance of the season are of a different variety entirely.
—Thomas Drance, New York Times, 30 Sep. 2025
Playoff roster decisions are agonizing for every Major League Baseball front office, but the Toronto Blue Jays are dealing with some particularly tough calls this year.
—Jackson Roberts, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for agonizing
Recent Examples of Synonyms for agonizing
Adjective
-
Grey’s Anatomy star Katherine Heigl is getting candid about the painful process of grieving her late costar, Eric Dane.—
Shania Russell,
Entertainment Weekly,
22 Feb. 2026
-
For people with Crohn’s disease, those decisions can have serious consequences, including painful flares, emergency room visits and long-term complications.—
Amy Sue Harper,
The Orlando Sentinel,
22 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
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
-
What's going on is absolutely heart-wrenching.—
Kiki Intarasuwan,
CBS News,
5 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Acknowledging the suffering, the government in January began distributing payments of 10 million rials a month each to some 70 million people, about 75% of the population, to spend on food.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
25 Feb. 2026
-
These are just some of the characters in Lauren Groff’s new short story collection, Brawler, all of whom are granted a deep and individual interiority, while still being narratively knit together by the all-too-common human experience of suffering.—
Emma Specter,
Vogue,
25 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
One way is to create a one-page emergency plan, a cheat sheet of all the details, routines and practices necessary to -prevent delay and indecision during emergencies.—
Helen Carefoot,
Flow Space,
20 Feb. 2026
-
This hesitation was not the result of vacillating between options in indecision, but an active and regulated brain process to pause before acting due to environmental uncertainty.—
Eric Yttri,
The Conversation,
12 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
The Bureau of Engineering selected Tetra Tech, a global engineering firm, to fortify and relight the stretch of road that connects downtown Los Angeles to Boyle Heights, which has essentially gone dark due to the amount of copper theft plaguing the area.—
Dean Fioresi,
CBS News,
19 Feb. 2026
-
The decibel drama proved, intentionally or not, to be a deflection from the far more pressing issues plaguing the UConn men’s basketball team at the moment, despite a 24-3 record for which most any Huskies fan would have signed on the dotted line when the season began.—
Dom Amore,
Hartford Courant,
19 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
As one southwest Missouri sheriff’s department is grieving the loss of two deputies, two others — who one of the slain deputies was trying to help when he was killed — are recovering after surgery.—
Laura Bauer,
Kansas City Star,
24 Feb. 2026
-
Meika Loe, a Colgate University sociology professor, told me that many of her female students are grieving the loss of bodily autonomy.—
Faith Hill,
The Atlantic,
23 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
The scene, however, of Myers skating around for warmups and enjoying some time with his family underscored the harsh realities of trade deadline season for the players — and the families — directly involved.—
Thomas Drance,
New York Times,
26 Feb. 2026
-
While many ground covers are resilient and can thrive in harsh growing conditions, such as areas with full sun and dry soil, environments that are overly damp and soggy can be tricky for certain ground covers.—
Madeline Buiano,
Martha Stewart,
26 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
After a torturous 2025 season that featured one of the worst team pitching performances in major league history, the pitching think tank was overhauled.—
Patrick Saunders,
Denver Post,
15 Feb. 2026
-
Every year many Christians are arrested and imprisoned under torturous conditions for practicing their right to religious freedom, where a simple act like praying together in house-churches seems like an act of civil disobedience.—
Benjamin Weinthal,
FOXNews.com,
13 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Agonizing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/agonizing. Accessed 28 Feb. 2026.
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