Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of excruciating or inflicting extreme pain, or the state of being excruciated; torture.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of inflicting agonizing pain, or the state of being thus afflicted; that which excruciates; torture.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Some excruciating pain.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a state of acute pain
  • noun the infliction of extremely painful punishment or suffering

Etymologies

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Examples

  • My excruciation is such that I wouldn’t even think of asking the fairer sex to coffee, let alone proposing a long-term arrangement.

    The Persistence of Memory 2010

  • Frey is, we are to understand, a man of sorrows, who has undergone excruciation if not crucifixion, and has been stigmatised by his bad press.

    The Final Testament of the Holy Bible by James Frey – review 2011

  • Your excruciation will soften over the years into mere annoyance.

    The Persistence of Memory 2010

  • They're more interesting, though seldom compelling, in the historical sections, which are themselves more interesting for the density of detail gleaned from the novel—the shared excruciation of foot binding, the secret language with which the friends communicate, the irresolvable conflict between their love for one another and the pull of dutiful wifedom.

    Harry Potter and the Fantastic Finale Joe Morgenstern 2011

  • After the excruciation at the centers of his palms and in the arches of his feet, after the blade between his ribs and the cracking of his clavicles, there was a period of darkness.

    Here Comes Another Lesson Stephen O’Connor 2010

  • They never met the original's level of excruciation and descended like all american shows do into the cartoon.

    Sitting Down For Jay - TV Guidance, Uncategorized - Macleans.ca 2010

  • Mrs. Davis had returned with a daughter besieged by tears of frustration and excruciation, and promptly went to bed, advising her to do the same.

    Waking Up 2009

  • A surge of need, pain and pleasure welded together, craving, and the sweet excruciation of denial, giving way, finally, inevitably, to satisfaction.

    Crashed ROBIN WASSERMAN 2009

  • A surge of need, pain and pleasure welded together, craving, and the sweet excruciation of denial, giving way, finally, inevitably, to satisfaction.

    Crashed ROBIN WASSERMAN 2009

  • Even when some parts of the government became uncomfortable with these methods, other parts continued it, further refining the effectiveness -- that would be the excruciation -- of our techniques.

    Michael Wolff: Torture Rules: How Much Pain and Suffering Works for You? 2009

Comments

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  • Members of hospital staff are conditioned to pay no heed to (nor to administer sufficient analgesics for) such excruciation.

    - Peter Reading, C, 1984

    September 28, 2008