ANGUISH

anguish, torment, torture

(noun) extreme mental distress

anguish

(noun) extreme distress of body or mind

pain, anguish, hurt

(verb) cause emotional anguish or make miserable; “It pains me to see my children not being taught well in school”

anguish

(verb) suffer great pains or distress

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology 1

Noun

anguish (countable and uncountable, plural anguishes)

Extreme pain, either of body or mind; excruciating distress.

Synonyms: agony, calvary, cross, pang, torture, torment, Thesaurus:agony

Etymology 2

Verb

anguish (third-person singular simple present anguishes, present participle anguishing, simple past and past participle anguished)

(intransitive) To suffer pain.

(transitive) To cause to suffer pain.

Etymology

Proper noun

Anguish

A surname.

(rare) A male given name

Source: Wiktionary


An"guish, n. Etym: [OE. anguishe, anguise, angoise, F. angoisse, fr. L. angustia narrowness, difficulty, distress, fr. angustus narrow, difficult, fr. angere to press together. See Anger.]

Definition: Extreme pain, either of body or mind; excruciating distress. But they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage. Ex. vi. 9. Anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child. Jer. iv. 31.

Note: Rarely used in the plural: - Ye miserable people, you must go to God in anguishes, and make your prayer to him. Latimer.

Syn.

– Agony; pang; torture; torment. See Agony.

An"guish, v. t. Etym: [Cf. F. angoisser, fr. L. angustiare.]

Definition: To distress with extreme pain or grief. [R.] Temple.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

31 March 2025

IMPROVISED

(adjective) done or made using whatever is available; “crossed the river on improvised bridges”; “the survivors used jury-rigged fishing gear”; “the rock served as a makeshift hammer”


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Coffee Trivia

The expression “coffee break” was first attested in 1952 in glossy magazine advertisements by the Pan-American Coffee Bureau.

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