1,400 new words in our dictionary! — Parasocial, glow-up, promposal & more
1,400 new words in our dictionary! — More

excruciated

verb

past tense of excruciate
as in plagued
to cause persistent suffering to she has long been excruciated by an undiagnosed pain in her knee

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for excruciated
  1. plagued
  2. afflicted
  3. persecuted
  4. tortured
  5. besieged
  6. cursed
Verb
  • With local cops, plagued by rumors of departmental misdeeds, looking for a peaceful solution and federal authorities contemplating extreme action, the situation escalates.
    — Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 19 Sep. 2026
  • That gave North Crowley a 35-28 lead with 19 seconds remaining in the second quarter, despite a first half plagued with penalties.
    — Charles Baggarly, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 19 Sep. 2026
Definition of plagued
Verb
  • The afflicted can feel very strongly about them, strongly believe them, even though there is no convincing reason for holding that thought.
    — Donna Vickroy, Chicago Tribune, 18 Sep. 2026
  • However, the network was afflicted with major issues in its first year, including executive turnover and poor ratings.
    — Daysia Tolentino, Entertainment Weekly, 17 Sep. 2026
Definition of afflicted
Verb
  • Also, some immigration cases involve people seeking asylum because they are being persecuted by a foreign government and releasing a person’s full name could be considered sensitive or even dangerous.
    — Laura Tillman, Hartford Courant, 11 Sep. 2026
  • The Tates have denied all allegations and have claimed they are being persecuted for their views.
    — Meredith Deliso, ABC News, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of persecuted
Verb
  • Two students who had been visiting the palace, Eduardo Matson Ospino and Yolanda Ernestina Santodomingo, were allegedly classified as especiales, taken to a military facility, blindfolded, interrogated, tortured and threatened with execution.
    — Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 18 Sep. 2026
  • Prosecutors say Alsheikh, seeking to quash political dissent, sent certain prisoners to a wing of Adra where they were held in small isolation cells and tortured.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 17 Sep. 2026
Definition of tortured
Verb
  • In recent months, Israeli settlers have repeatedly besieged the village of Qusra, defying orders from the authorities to leave the area and trying to force Palestinian families, some of whom are also American citizens, out.
    — Oren Liebermann, CNN Money, 30 Aug. 2026
  • There has been a spate of Israeli settler violence in the West Bank, and the village of Qusra has been besieged by Israeli settlers for weeks.
    — F. Brinley Bruton, NBC news, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of besieged
Verb
  • In a wartorn country where air travel is too perilous to even consider, the roads are the obvious option, but are jammed, precarious, and cursed with long, torturous border queues.
    — Nick Paton Walsh, CNN Money, 14 Sep. 2026
  • Instead, the ghosts of flower power rose from their graves and cursed the entire Sex Squadron with a thundercloud of paranoia from all the bad acid trips ever to hit Haight-Ashbury.
    — Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of cursed
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

excruciate
excruciated
excruciates
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Excruciated.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/excruciated. Accessed 20 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of volition

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary

Words from the 'Odyssey'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Words of the Week - Sept. 18
See More

Popular

See More

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
crayons-in-a-circle
Guess the Color Quiz Questions that use the whole box of crayons.
See All