agony
part of speech
noun (agony, agonies)
meaning for a pupil
1) Very great pain of the body. tree →
2) Very great worry or sadness of the mind. tree →
3) (informal) Something very annoying or hard: «The waiting was agony!» tree →
sense in the lessons
In stories and medicine it shows strong pain; in everyday talk people exaggerate («Maths homework is agony»). Phrases: «in agony», «agony aunt» (UK: someone who answers readers' problems in a magazine), «the agony of waiting».
examples
- And he said unto me: Stand, I pray thee, beside me, and slay me, for the agony hath taken hold of me; because my life is just yet in me. (Prophets 2SA.1.9, JPS 1917) tree →
- He was in agony after breaking his arm. tree →
- Waiting for the results was agony. tree →
- The agony of losing the final stayed with her. tree →
- Call for help if someone is in agony. tree →
- My new shoes were agony on the long walk. tree →
- The magazine has an agony aunt. tree →
- A cry of agony escaped from him; he struggled to get free, and tottered from her. tree →
note
Usually uncountable. Adjective: agonising (UK) / agonizing (US). Stronger than «pain».
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «agony» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.