DictionaryAI

agony

noun
AG-uh-nee/ˈæɡəni/

Pluralagonies

5 meanings of agony

Practice

  1. 1
    great sufferingnouncountable or uncountable
    Very great pain that is hard to bear.

    He was in agony after he broke his leg playing soccer.

    Waiting all week for her test results was agony.

    Similartorment, anguish, torture, suffering

    Oppositeecstasy

    Note
  2. 2
    dyingnouncountable or uncountable
    The last hard struggle of life, just before death.

    The old soldier called for his wife in his last agony.

    The doctor stayed by the man's bed through his death agony.

    Similarthroes

    Note
  3. 3
    Jesusnounusually singular
    The great suffering of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.

    The priest read the story of Jesus's agony in the garden.

    Many old paintings show the Agony in the Garden.

    Note
  4. 4
    burst of joynouncountable
    A sudden burst of great joy, or any very strong feeling.

    When her son came home from the war, she cried in an agony of joy.

    The fans jumped and shouted in agonies of delight when the team won.

    Similarparoxysm, transport

    Note
  5. 5
    fightnouncountable
    A hard and violent fight or struggle.
    The world is convulsed by the agonies of great nations.
    1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the SecondHere, agonies are violent struggles or fierce contests between great nations.

    Similarstruggle

    Note

Practice

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Origin

From a Greek word meaning "struggle" or "contest". It came to mean "extreme pain" around 1600.