anguish
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents |
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Middle English anguishe, angoise, from Anglo-Norman anguise, anguisse, from Old French angoisse, from Latin angustia (“narrowness, difficulty, distress”), from angustus (“narrow, difficult”), from angere (“to press together”). See angst, the Germanic cognate, and anger.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
anguish (countable and uncountable; plural anguishes)
- Extreme pain, either of body or mind; excruciating distress.
- 1889,Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles:
- A terrible scream—a prolonged yell of horror and anguish—burst out of the silence of the moor. That frightful cry turned the blood to ice in my veins.
- 1889,Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles:
Synonyms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
extreme pain
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Verb[edit]
anguish (third-person singular simple present anguishes, present participle anguishing, simple past and past participle anguished)
- (intransitive) To suffer pain.
- (Can we date this quote?) 1900s, Kl. Knigge, Iceland Folk Song, traditional, Harmony: H. Ruland
- We’re leaving these shores for our time has come, the days of our youth must now end. The hearts bitter anguish, it burns for the home that we’ll never see again.
- (Can we date this quote?) 1900s, Kl. Knigge, Iceland Folk Song, traditional, Harmony: H. Ruland
- (transitive) To cause to suffer pain.
Translations[edit]
suffer pain
cause to suffer pain
External links[edit]
- anguish in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- anguish in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
