anguish

[ ang-gwish ]

noun

1. excruciating or acute distress, suffering, or pain:

   the anguish of grief.

   Synonyms: torture, torment, agony

   Antonyms: relief, comfort, delight

verb (used with object)

1. to inflict with distress, suffering, or pain.

verb (used without object)

1. to suffer, feel, or exhibit anguish:

   to anguish over the loss of a loved one.

anguish

/ ˈæŋɡwɪʃ /

noun

1. extreme pain or misery; mental or physical torture; agony

verb

1. to afflict or be afflicted with anguish

Word History and Origins

Origin of anguish¹

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English anguisse, from Old French, from Latin angustia “tight place,” from angust(us) “narrow” + -ia -ia; anxious

Word History and Origins

Origin of anguish¹

C13: from Old French angoisse a strangling, from Latin angustia narrowness, from angustus narrow

Synonym Study

See pain.

Example Sentences

“You want the scene to emotionally take you to a high point. And when you can’t express that joy or that euphoria in any other way, you break into song. The same is true the other way. You go down to the depths of despair, and in that moment of pain and that moment of anguish, singing is the only way to express how you feel.”

From Los Angeles Times

Sophie Blake, who was diagnosed with stage four secondary breast cancer in May 2022, says she wants new rules to allow people to medically end their own life to protect families from the anguish of seeing their loved ones suffer "needlessly".

From BBC

Guardiola had already been perching anxiously on one knee, his face wreathed in anguish, well before Joao Pedro's 77th-minute equaliser started the Brighton comeback that inflicted a fourth successive defeat, City’s first such sequence since 2006.

From BBC

He agrees that making it a safer, more personalized, and guided experience would help relieve a lot of anguish he sees in his clients.

From Slate

Her release ignited anguish among family members, who believed a mental evaluation or psychiatric hold should have been required.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• agony
• grief
• heartache
• heartbreak
• misery
• sorrow
• suffering
• torment
• woe