1
as in painful
hard to accept or bear especially emotionally
a harrowing portrayal of the ravages of war
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in wrenching
intensely or unbearably painful
the harrowing amputations without any anesthetic that soldiers and sailors once were forced to endure
Synonyms & Similar Words
as in plaguing
to cause persistent suffering to
the villagers were gaunt and sickly, harrowed by years of disease and starvation
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of harrowing
Joseph Dycus, Mercury News, 12 Apr. 2026
From wire-to-wire to a harrowing high-wire act.
—Los Angeles Times, 12 Apr. 2026
Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga and starring Abraham Attah and Idris Elba, the film is a harrowing, confronting look at humanity in the face of the devastation of war.
—James Mercadante, Entertainment Weekly, 12 Apr. 2026
From the silly and/or salacious, to the genuinely harrowing, nary a week has gone by without something surprising, if not downright disturbing, in the world of media, entertainment and celebrity.
—Jami Ganz, New York Daily News, 9 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for harrowing
Adjective
The Warriors are 3-1 against the Suns – and an iffy call against Moody away from 4-0 – but a road playoff game is still a harrowing challenge.
—Joseph Dycus, Mercury News, 12 Apr. 2026
From wire-to-wire to a harrowing high-wire act.
—Los Angeles Times, 12 Apr. 2026
Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga and starring Abraham Attah and Idris Elba, the film is a harrowing, confronting look at humanity in the face of the devastation of war.
—James Mercadante, Entertainment Weekly, 12 Apr. 2026
From the silly and/or salacious, to the genuinely harrowing, nary a week has gone by without something surprising, if not downright disturbing, in the world of media, entertainment and celebrity.
—Jami Ganz, New York Daily News, 9 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for harrowing
Recent Examples of Synonyms for harrowing
Adjective
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Think about caring for an ill mate, losing income because of having to give up your job, having difficulty paying your bills and suffering from painful arthritis while serving as the unpaid caregiver.—
Helen Dennis,
Daily News,
19 Apr. 2026
-
Jan Garrod said the cost of farming and trucking with the skyrocketing cost of diesel is almost too painful to think about.—
Laura Ness,
Mercury News,
19 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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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
Verb
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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
Adjective
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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
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When the camera's weren't rolling, McCracken says, Couric gave some harsh advice.—
Charles Trepany,
USA Today,
16 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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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
Verb
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Gene-drive technology might be able to make wildlife less likely to spread diseases such as the one afflicting the rabbits, or malaria.—
Alex Robinson,
Outdoor Life,
8 Apr. 2026
-
For Yuldosheva and her neighbors, finding their landlord is one of many problems afflicting their six-story building near Yankee Stadium.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
3 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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Dahl’s books are fanciful and imaginative, but also dark, cynical, and mean (and, unfortunately, often reflected his real-life ugliness), spinning stories in which gruesome and unpleasant fates befell rotten kids, and adults were frequently selfish, cruel, and not to be trusted.—
Wilson Chapman,
IndieWire,
10 Apr. 2026
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Violating that trust is both cruel and unlawful.—
DeJanay Booth-Singleton,
CBS News,
10 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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Democrats, who have run the state for years, are publicly agonizing over the possibility they may be shut out of the general election in November.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
13 Apr. 2026
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Marketing executive Mathew Evins lived with chronic back pain for eight agonizing years.—
Susan Spencer,
CBS News,
12 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Harrowing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/harrowing. Accessed 23 Apr. 2026.
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