Synonyms for suffering
- noun
- adjective
Synonyms by meaning
Noun
1. Agony
agony, hardship, pain, misery, anguish, trouble, adversity, affliction, torment, grief, discomfort, ache, torture, tribulation, passion, trial, excruciation rare
Adjective
Definitions
- n. 1
The condition of someone who suffers; a state of pain or distress.
- adj. 1
Experiencing pain; characterized by suffering.
Related words
- Phrases
- suffering succotash suffering risk
- Other spellings
- suff'ring
Forms
- Plural
- sufferings → agonies, hardships, pains, miseries…
Choose the right word
Suffering is one of the severer forms of pain. The prick of a needle causes pain, but we should scarcely speak of it as suffering.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- pain By and large, women can bear pain better than men.
- misery Tom blamed all his misery on planned obsolescence.
- agony Tom mistook Mary's singing for a cry of agony.
- hardship They had to endure great hardship during the war.
- poverty The issue of Third World poverty is very pressing.
- teen Layla started wearing the hijab in her teen years.
By length
- 3 letters
- woe1
- 4 letters
- pain1, hurt1, teen1, sore1, ache1
- 5 letters
- trial2, grief1, agony3
- 6 letters
- misery3, aching2, pained1
- 7 letters
- trouble2, poverty3, passion2, torture2, anguish2, torment2
- 8 letters
- distress2, hardship2, wretched2
- 9 letters
- miserable4, endurance3, adversity4, tormented3
- 10 letters
- discomfort3, affliction3, sufferance
- 11 letters
- tribulation4
- 12 letters
- excruciation
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (trial2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- souffrance
- Italiano
- sofferenza
- Español
- sufrimiento