ANGUISH

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does anguish mean? 

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

1. extreme mental distress

2. extreme distress of body or mind

  Familiarity information: ANGUISH used as a noun is rare.

• ANGUISH (verb)
  The verb ANGUISH has 2 senses:

1. suffer great pains or distress

2. cause emotional anguish or make miserable

  Familiarity information: ANGUISH used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ANGUISH (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Extreme mental distress

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

anguish; torment; torture

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

distress; hurt; suffering (psychological suffering)

Derivation:

anguish (cause emotional anguish or make miserable)

anguish (suffer great pains or distress)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Extreme distress of body or mind

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

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

distress (a state of adversity (danger or affliction or need))

Derivation:

anguish (cause emotional anguish or make miserable)

• ANGUISH (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Suffer great pains or distress

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "anguish" is one way to...):

suffer (experience (emotional) pain)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sentence example:

Sam and Sue anguish over the results of the experiment

Derivation:

anguish (extreme mental distress)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cause emotional anguish or make miserable

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

anguish; hurt; pain

Context example:

It pains me to see my children not being taught well in school

Hypernyms (to "anguish" is one way to...):

discomfit; discompose; disconcert; untune; upset (cause to lose one's composure)

Cause:

suffer (experience (emotional) pain)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "anguish"):

break someone's heart (cause deep emotional pain and grief to somebody)

agonise; agonize (cause to agonize)

try (give pain or trouble to)

excruciate; rack; torment; torture (torment emotionally or mentally)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The bad news will anguish him

Derivation:

anguish (extreme mental distress)

anguish (extreme distress of body or mind)

 Context examples 

No one can conceive the anguish I suffered during the remainder of the night, which I spent, cold and wet, in the open air.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

A sensation of extreme discomfort and anguish that is perceived as severe enough to cause one's death.

(Killing Pain, NCI Thesaurus)

A sensation of great anguish and suffering.

(Agonizing Pain, NCI Thesaurus)

I gasped with the anguish and shock of it, filling my lungs before the life-preserver popped me to the surface.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Be that as it may, she saw him go with regret; and in this early example of what Lydia's infamy must produce, found additional anguish as she reflected on that wretched business.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

My husband’s anguish at the loss of his paper went to my heart.

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

Ah, my child, that I do; and indeed there is no wish of me to add to your anguish.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I have known you, Mr. Rochester; and it strikes me with terror and anguish to feel I absolutely must be torn from you for ever.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

This, as every thing else would have been, was too much for Marianne, who could only exclaim, in the anguish of her heart, Oh!

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

A man's voice screamed once in horror and anguish.

(White Fang, by Jack London)