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# 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 →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/agony/#m1)

2) Very great worry or sadness of the mind. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/agony/#m2)

3) (informal) Something very annoying or hard: «The waiting was agony!» [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/agony/#m3)

### 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 →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/agony/#x1)
- Waiting for the results was agony. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/agony/#x2)
- The agony of losing the final stayed with her. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/agony/#x3)
- Call for help if someone is in agony. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/agony/#x4)
- My new shoes were agony on the long walk. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/agony/#x5)
- The magazine has an agony aunt. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/agony/#x6)
- A cry of agony escaped from him; he struggled to get free, and tottered from her. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/agony/#x7)

### note

Usually uncountable. Adjective: agonising (UK) / agonizing (US). Stronger than «pain».

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «agony» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/agony/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.