1
as in agonies
a situation or state that causes great suffering and unhappiness
the flood brought misery to the many hundreds whom it had made homeless
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in pains
a state of great suffering of body or mind
a medication that promises to provide greater relief to those living in chronic misery because of arthritis
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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.
Recent Examples of miseries
This week’s massive winter storm dumped more than a foot of snow on at least 19 states, including those like Texas and Tennessee that are less prepared to deal with the miseries of winter weather.
—
Amy Feldman, Forbes.com, 28 Jan. 2026
The victims of prejudice and inequality are always the best guardians of the ramparts that sustain those miseries.
—Cressida Leyshon, New Yorker, 23 Nov. 2025
Falling support in Gaza Palestinian public pressure on Hamas has risen as the miseries of war have mounted.
—Mkhaimar Abusada, The Conversation, 5 Oct. 2025
But current virus variants continue to spread burning throats, fevers and other miseries.
—Grant Stringer, Mercury News, 8 Sep. 2025
Task begins by setting up the parallels between Tom and Robbie, two flawed men trying to keep their heads above the water of their own miseries, cutting back and forth between their routines to emphasize their similar ideologies and spontaneities.
—Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 5 Sep. 2025
The reductive, conventional wisdom in the party held that nonwhite voters, especially Hispanic Americans, would be the key to a new Democratic national majority after the party’s miseries in the post-9/11 world.
—Chris Stirewalt, The Hill, 19 Aug. 2025
Amy Feldman, Forbes.com, 28 Jan. 2026
The victims of prejudice and inequality are always the best guardians of the ramparts that sustain those miseries.
—Cressida Leyshon, New Yorker, 23 Nov. 2025
Falling support in Gaza Palestinian public pressure on Hamas has risen as the miseries of war have mounted.
—Mkhaimar Abusada, The Conversation, 5 Oct. 2025
But current virus variants continue to spread burning throats, fevers and other miseries.
—Grant Stringer, Mercury News, 8 Sep. 2025
Task begins by setting up the parallels between Tom and Robbie, two flawed men trying to keep their heads above the water of their own miseries, cutting back and forth between their routines to emphasize their similar ideologies and spontaneities.
—Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 5 Sep. 2025
The reductive, conventional wisdom in the party held that nonwhite voters, especially Hispanic Americans, would be the key to a new Democratic national majority after the party’s miseries in the post-9/11 world.
—Chris Stirewalt, The Hill, 19 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for miseries
Noun
-
Hadi’s exceptional attention gives cinematic identity to collective artisanal energy, to the life force of care and devotion that stands outside the agonies of politics, to the spirit that endures a regime and outlives it.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
10 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
The Olympic organizers have gone to great and sometimes absurd pains to excise political messaging from the Games.—
Vinson Cunningham,
New Yorker,
21 Feb. 2026
-
The duo went to great pains to source pieces from the brands and collections Bessette Kennedy wore, including Prada coats and shoes and her favored Levi denim cut.—
Rachel Tashjian,
CNN Money,
19 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
The filmmaker also resorts to that overused crutch of horror movies by which horrific events are revealed to be nightmares.—
Frank Scheck,
HollywoodReporter,
19 Feb. 2026
-
Audre Lorde kept track of her nightmares and talked about going from the nightmare to the poem.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
17 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
On the surface, at least, the glitzy Russian capital, with its shops and cafes and traffic jams, is well-insulated against the horrors of the frontlines, save the occasional interception of Ukrainian drones, about which few Muscovites, frankly, spare a passing thought.—
Matthew Chance,
CNN Money,
21 Feb. 2026
-
Why, Newman wrote, would Julian choose to give the world reason to doubt that the horrors unfolding in Europe were actually happening?—
Nicholas Lemann,
New Yorker,
21 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
In that final part of the cycle—the writing part—were torments, perhaps even tortures, but good things happened.—
Jake Lundberg,
The Atlantic,
19 Feb. 2026
-
Former Jews deemed insufficiently converted faced the Spanish Inquisition’s tortures.—
David Bloom,
Forbes.com,
17 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
In that final part of the cycle—the writing part—were torments, perhaps even tortures, but good things happened.—
Jake Lundberg,
The Atlantic,
19 Feb. 2026
-
As a poet, publisher, and public intellectual, Ferlinghetti spent the rest of his career resisting the very torments Judge Horn said haunted the post-war world.—
Gioia Woods,
Literary Hub,
6 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Miseries.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/miseries. Accessed 24 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
