agony

«agony» in Mova's school dictionary: Very great pain of the body — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

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

• 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.