AGONY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does agony mean? 

• AGONY (noun)
  The noun AGONY has 2 senses:

1. intense feelings of suffering; acute mental or physical pain

2. a state of acute pain

  Familiarity information: AGONY used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• AGONY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Intense feelings of suffering; acute mental or physical pain

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

agony; torment; torture

Context example:

the torments of the damned

Hypernyms ("agony" is a kind of...):

hurt; suffering (feelings of mental or physical pain)

Derivation:

agonal (pertaining to or associated with agony (especially death agonies))

agonise (suffer agony or anguish)

agonise (cause to agonize)

agonist (someone involved in a contest or battle (as in an agon))

agonist (the principal character in a work of fiction)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A state of acute pain

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

agony; excruciation; suffering

Hypernyms ("agony" is a kind of...):

hurting; pain (a symptom of some physical hurt or disorder)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "agony"):

throe (severe spasm of pain)

Passion; Passion of Christ (the suffering of Jesus at the Crucifixion)

Derivation:

agonal (pertaining to or associated with agony (especially death agonies))

agonise (suffer agony or anguish)

agonise (cause to agonize)

agonist (someone involved in a contest or battle (as in an agon))

agonize (suffer agony or anguish)

 Context examples 

And there, in the middle of it, was the man himself—his face twisted like a lost soul in torment, and his great brindled beard stuck upward in his agony.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

We had hardly reached the hall when we heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

For pity’s sake don’t, and may you be treated in your day of agony as you treat me now.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Fishermen engaged in illegal fishing of sharks usually resort to finning: cutting off the caught sharks’ fins and throwing the sharks back into the water, where they die in agony.

(New way to save endangered sharks – and our seafood, SciDev.Net)

The sensation of discomfort, distress, or agony, resulting from the stimulation of specialized nerve endings.

(Pain, NCI Thesaurus)

I was struck with the utmost grief and despair at my master’s discourse; and being unable to support the agonies I was under, I fell into a swoon at his feet.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Pity and compassion had been generated in the subterranean barracoons of the slaves and were no more than the agony and sweat of the crowded miserables and weaklings.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

"Where are you going?" Edith demanded, in an agony of apprehension.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Though he could not drown, and was nine-lived in addition, he was suffering all the agonies of half-drowning.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I lay quiet, looking out under my eyelashes in an agony of delightful anticipation.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)