Anguish Meaning
/ˈæŋ.ɡwɪʃ/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounExtreme pain, either of body or mind; excruciating distress.
nounExtreme pain, either of body or mind; excruciating distress; an emotional state caused by intense misery or suffering.
Sentence Examples
The newspaper told of the mother's anguish at the death of her son.
He is in anguish over her child.
She felt intense anguish after hearing the tragic news about her friend.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The mother felt unbearable ____ when her child went missing.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The mother's cries of ____ were heartbreaking to hear at the church.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English angwissh, anguishe, angoise, from Anglo-Norman anguise, anguisse, from Old French angoisse, from Latin angustia (“narrowness, scarcity, difficulty, distress”), from angustus (“narrow, difficult”), from angere (“to press together, cause pain, distress”). See angst, the Germanic cognate, and anger.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Is there no play,
To ease the anguish of a torturing hour?"
— c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
"Love of your selfe, she saide, and deare constraint,
Lets me not sleepe, but wast the wearie night
In secret anguish and unpittied plaint,
Whiles you in carelesse sleepe are drowned quight."
— 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto LIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
"But they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 6:9:
"There, loathing Life, and yet of Death afraid,
In Anguish of her Spirit, thus she pray'd."
— 1700, [John] Dryden, “Cinyras and Myrrha, out of the Tenth Book of Ovid’s Metamorphosis”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
"May I the sacred pleasures know
Of strictest amity, nor ever want
A friend with whom I mutually may share
Gladness and anguish […]"
— 1708, [John Philips], “Book I”, in Cyder. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], →OCLC:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The mother felt unbearable ____ when her child went missing.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The mother's cries of ____ were heartbreaking to hear at the church.