Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Agonizing physical or mental pain; torment. See Synonyms at regret.
- v. To cause to feel or suffer anguish.
- v. To feel or suffer anguish.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Excruciating or agonizing pain of either body or mind; acute suffering or distress.
- n. An overwhelming emotion.
- n. Synonyms Agony, Anguish, Pang, etc. See agony and grief.
- To distress with excruciating pain or grief.
Wiktionary
- n. Extreme pain, either of body or mind; excruciating distress.
- v. intransitive To suffer pain.
- v. transitive To cause to suffer pain.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Extreme pain, either of body or mind; excruciating distress.
- v. rare To distress with extreme pain or grief.
WordNet 3.0
- v. suffer great pains or distress
- n. extreme distress of body or mind
- v. cause emotional anguish or make miserable
- n. extreme mental distress
Etymologies
- 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. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English angwisshe, from Old French anguisse, from Latin angustiae, distress, from angustus, narrow; see angh- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“a little hope, but the hope died, and anguish, anguish, _anguish_ took its place.”
“The Phillies watch in anguish from the dugout as their season nears its conclusion with a 7-3 loss in Game 6 of the World Series against the host Yankees on Wednesday night.”
“The remedies resorted to, afforded temporary relief; and great was her thankfulness for the alleviation from what she described as anguish -- anguish -- anguish!”
“To give a material representation to anguish is in itself to be freed from it.”
Dark Awakenings and Cosmic Horror : The Lovecraft News Network
“If you call your anguish "the mental disorder of depression," does calling it that make it a "mental disorder"?”
The Huffington Post: Eric Maisel, Ph.D.: Does Depression Exist?
“Carruth's anguish is part of a common but little talked about consequence of the summer of oil: People overcome by stress and worry, who are having a hard time navigating a world that seems so different from the one they knew before the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, sending waves of crude and tar balls toward the coast.”
The Huffington Post: Gulf Oil Spill Well Is Dead, But Not Residents' Anguish
“Apparently, BDS is still in force because Obama is continuing all of the Bush sins, yet with no corresponding anguish from the leftlings ...”
“Their hidden or even visible anguish is of no interest.”
“Life, although it may only be an accumulation of anguish, is dear to me, and I will defend it.”
“The film is steeped in anguish, disappointment and tears; yes, real tears from grown men of steel.”
The Huffington Post: Jay Weston: Kings of Pastry Takes the Cake!
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘anguish’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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RELI - words with Biblical connotations
Words in the Bible evoking biblical stories or with special spiritual meaning. Proper names have been reduced to the minimum.
ark, judgement, holy, saint, baptism, spirit, love, eternal, altar, balsam, covenant, flood and 1115 more...
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On with their heads!
Words that make other words with the addition of one letter at the beginning. The resulting words are tagged "behead".
men, his, yes, any, iota, limb, aged, laid, land, lead, read, word and 327 more...
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Describing People
eye, hair, mouth, nose, tooth, head, face, arm, hand, finger, lip, leg and 212 more...
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The blues
lugubrious, mournful, doleful, plaintive, tremulous, plangent, dyspeptic, morose, poignant, lamenting, lamentation, sad and 8 more...
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Words that end in "-ish" but aren't a...
embellish, flourish, garnish, rubbish, nourish, admonish, punish, finish, blemish, abolish, accomplish, parish and 41 more...
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Sorrow is better than laughter; for b...
lachrymose, sorrow, melancholic, wail, mournful, sob, misery, wretchedness, anguish, agony, heartbreak, lament and 38 more...
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emo words
feelings...blah, blah, blah, feelings...
forsaken, anguish, angst, sorrowful, dejected, depressed, disconsolate, heartbroken, genial, chipper, inadequate, helpless and 58 more...
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moreover and apropos of nothing
l'aspirateur
esprit
coquillage
treble
loquacious
verbose
aristocracy
aristo
aristocrat
aristocratic
antwerp
implore
exudein situ, frequency, fluent, counterpoint, no admittance, trespass, canvas, caravan, rapture, tendril, sonicity, succor and 25 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, A
abaculus, abacus, abaft, abarticular, abbreviate, abeyance, abiding, anthocyanin, antemeridian, arcane, adjure, adduce and 418 more...
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ChortleGiggleSnort
Significant Words- Guiding you on your path to Snazzibility
flimsy, feeble, ranting, ramble, narky, snazzy, yoghurt, bulbous, pustule, globulous, geranium, megalomaniac and 521 more...
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Morthalion's Words
supercilious, kvetch, kvass, splurge, erroneous, pugnacious, macabre, gauche, conglomerate, abyss, paraphernalia, kleptomania and 285 more...
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GRE 3500
abase, abash, abate, aberrant, abeyance, abjure, ablution, abut, accede, accentuate, acerbity, acetic and 133 more...
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Words I Know
List of most of the words I've learned
garner, abase, abate, abdicate, abduct, aberration, abet, abhor, abide, abject, abjure, abnegation and 1046 more...
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SoSheShall's list
slurp, coeur, slurple, glop, perp, fluarxx, ropechno, herrherr, burrduhherrherr, sloppy, cheezie balls, eccentric and 634 more...
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Personal Vocabulary List
All my favourite words that I come across!
veritable, incongruence, rigamorole, letcherous, revolting, repulsive, reputrid, rapatious, forays, guise, placate, paradigm and 1162 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for anguish.

Kristianto2010 In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the LORD, weeping bitterly. 1 Samuel 1 : 10 Jan 3, 2011
bilby A fairly well-known rhyme translated into Anguish:
Sinker sucker socks pants
Apocryphal awry
Foreign turnkey blank boards
Bagged inner pyre.
Whinny pious orphaned
Door boards bay-gander sink.
Worsen dizzy jelly ditch
Toe setter furry kink? Sep 16, 2009