n. 1
Extreme pain, either of body or mind; excruciating distress; an emotional state caused by intense misery or suffering.
It took years to overcome the anguish from my wife's death.
v. 1
To suffer pain.
v. 2
To cause to suffer pain.

Related words

Phrases: pear of anguish

Forms

Plural: anguishes → pains, torments, agonies, griefs…
Past participle: anguished
e.g. anguished → tortured, panged, racked, wounded…

Choose the right word

Anguish, Agony, Pain or Suffering?

Agony and anguish express the utmost pain or suffering of body or mind. Agony of body is that with which the system struggles; anguish that by which it is crushed.

J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)

Example sentences

suffering I have a headache and I am suffering from a cough.
grief There are five stages of grief. Stage one: denial.
sorrow To my sorrow, my father cannot attend the meeting.
agony Tom mistook Mary's singing for a cry of agony.

Popularity over time

Word	1850 → 2019	Trend
anguish		rising
suffering		rising
grief		rising
sorrow		rising
agony		rising
calvary		rising

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

3 letters: woe¹
4 letters: pain¹, hurt¹, rack¹, ache¹, pang¹
5 letters: cross¹, smart¹, wound¹, grief¹, sting¹, agony³, wring¹, thole¹, throe
6 letters: suffer², misery³, sorrow², grieve¹, harrow²
7 letters: trouble², anxiety⁴, torture², sadness², torment², calvary³, afflict², agonize³, agonise
8 letters: distress², hardship², irritate³, aggrieve²
9 letters: suffering³, heartache²
10 letters: discomfort³, bitterness³, affliction³, excruciate
11 letters: unhappiness⁴, anguishment
12 letters: wretchedness, excruciation

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (agony³ = 3 syllables).