agonize

CEFRC1

/ˈæɡ.ɪ.naɪz/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To suffer extreme physical or emotional pain.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    To cause agony or anguish in someone.

Examples

  • I hope we didn't agonize over this decision for nothing.

  • You just messed up once. You don't need to agonize over it.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
3
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /ˈæɡ.ɪ.nɑez/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To struggle; to wrestle; to strive desperately, whether mentally or physically.

  2. To writhe with agony; to suffer violent anguish.

  3. To act as an agonist upon; to combine with a receptor on a cell to produce a physiological reaction.

More examples

In context

  • His Touch, if tremblingly alive all o’er, / To smart, and agonize at ev’ry pore?

  • So I took a last stare round, agonizing to see if there was any way of escape; but the stone walls and roof were solid enough to crush me, and the stack of casks too closely packed to hide more than a rat.

  • That dreadful bill […] was one of the chief torments of her life. At all hours of the night or day it was waiting just round the corner of her consciousness, ready to spring upon her and agonise her […]

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

He would blank over each small mistake until he felt sick.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

From French agoniser, from Late Latin agonizare, from Ancient Greek ἀγωνίζομαι (agōnízomai, “to fight, contend”). See agony. By surface analysis, agon + -ize.