agony
ago·ny (ag′ə nē)
noun pl. -·nies
- very great mental or physical pain
- death pangs
- a convulsive struggle
- a sudden, strong outburst (of emotion) an agony of joy
Etymology: ME agonie < L agonia < Gr agōnia, a contest for victory < agōn, agon
agony
n.
Preposition: of
- indecision: In the present moment all those agonies of indecision are just more thoughts among all the others.
- suspense: Who shall say what hope, what agony of suspense, fills her troubled mind?
- grief: The death of his son threw the poor man into an agony of grief, which sometimes reappears on the surface.
- despair: While I still hung over her in the agony of despair, I happened to look up.
- defeat: Marathon runners with bad footwear suffer the agony of defeat.
- death: Adam and Noah wept day and night due to the agony of death.
Converse of object
- prolong: Arguably, it has actually made the killing worse by prolonging the agony.
- endure: His father, who suffered a stroke in 1961 which rendered him speechless, endured the agony in silence.
- suffer: Don't let them suffer the agony of the lost.
- inflict: Anya, here, would take great pleasure in inflicting great agony on you, for me.
Adjective modifier
- excruciating: It can vary from mild discomfort to excruciating agony.
- indescribable: But his head was quite loose, as if it would fall off, and his face wore an expression of indescribable agony.
- exquisite: Readers who notice a certain detachment from the rather exquisite agonies of textual bibliographers will now know why.
- absolute: I was in absolute agony for about 6 hours.
- sheer: That is going to put me through sheer agony.
- terrible: Every newspaper and every news bulletin for the last two weeks has reminded us that there is a terrible agony in the world.
Modifies a noun
- aunt: They can also email agony aunt, Sam, for direct advice.
- uncle: There's even an agony uncle to respond to your problems.
- column: Ed SMALL PRINT Has YS ever thought of having an agony aunt column?
Noun used with modifier
- death: The death agony of the coalition ministry began on the day of its birth.
Part of knowing who we are is knowing we are not someone else. And Jew is only the name we give to that stranger, the agony we cannot feel, the death we look at like a cold abstraction. Each man has his Jew; it is the other.
But set down This, set down This: were we led all that way for Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly, We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death But had thought they were different; this Birth was Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death. We returned to our places, these Kingdoms, But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation, With an alien people clutching their gods. I should be glad of another death.
Naught broken save this body, lost but breath; Nothing to shake the laughing heart's long peace there But onlyagony, and that has ending; And the worst friend and enemy is but Death.
Browse dictionary entries near agony
- agonizing
- agonize
- agonistic
- agonistes
- agonist
- agonic line
- agonic
- agone
- agonal
- agon
- agony aunt
- agora
- agoraphobia
- agouti
- agr
- Agra
- agraffe
- agranulocytosis
- agrapha
- agraphia
