(n.) Pain so extreme as to cause writhing or contortions of the body, similar to those made in the athletic contests in Greece; and hence, extreme pain of mind or body; anguish; paroxysm of grief; specifically, the sufferings of Christ in the garden of Gethsemane.
(n.) Paroxysm of joy; keen emotion.
(n.) The last struggle of life; death struggle.
Example Sentences:
(1) "The new feminine ideal is of egg-smooth perfection from hairline to toes," she writes, describing the exquisite agony of having her fingers, arms, back, buttocks and nostrils waxed.
(2) It has been awfully hard-won, carved slowly out of a big block of human agony.
(3) Her agony and her rapture stay interior, and they flip-flop like nerves in this beautiful, grave black-and-white movie.
(4) Those who remember the Two Davids of the 1987 SDP-Liberal Alliance will recall the exquisite agony only too well, cruelly captured by the Spitting Image puppet of little Steel perched in big Owen's pocket.
(5) Using male and female Wistar rats, pituitary response to cardiac and respiratory failure type (CFT and RFT) sudden death caused by the intravenous administration of KC1 and SCC, respectively, was examined by analyzing variation in pituitary immunoreactive beta-endorphin (IR-beta-EP) levels determined by radioimmunoassay after death and in circulating IR-beta-EP levels during periods of agony.
(6) I was in the surgical ward at Westmorland General Hospital on Kendal Green, and it was agony.
(7) I'd go after work and he'd paint till 1 or 1.30 in the morning, and it was agony lying there on the floor.
(8) Evidently fuelled by the agony of losing a series twelve months ago when the trophy was almost within their grasp, they also had the teamwork, technique and experience to turn their quest for revenge into a reality.
(9) Facebook Twitter Pinterest Even those who’ve never seen a downhill ski race couldn’t help but sympathise with Bode Miller’s agony at missing out on a medal in what will surely be the last Olympic event of his career.
(10) "When the disaster was big enough," King writes, "agony and violent death had an enriching quality."
(11) Even at UCH, when no one was there for us and my father, having not slept for almost 30 hours, was pulling his hair out in agony, I tried to look at it all as a kind of comedy of errors."
(12) They were subject, of course, to the prison censor, but the agony over Winnie, and the passion of which that agony was a product, blazes through them.
(13) That he ended up in the dock in The Hague at all surprised many who have studied the man and his country's agony through the 1990s.
(14) Shawcross, however, maintains there was no bad intent and said for that reason he has not been tormenting himself about the moment he collided with Ramsey's right leg and left the teenager writhing in agony.
(15) He notes the uneven agony - 80% will land in developing countries.
(16) The poor animals are thrown back into the water to die in agony, a practice condemned by environmental campaigners.
(17) The rest was pure agony for the Australians, give or take a yellow card for Sonny Bill Williams, given for a dangerous tackle.
(18) The woman before you in agony pushing and pushing, losing all dignity, does not care one bit whether I am feeling alarmed at her screaming, worried about where I should be standing, wondering whether I should rub her back or try and make small talk between contractions.
(19) Litvinenko sipped “three or four times” from a cup of radioactive tea, and died in agony 23 days later, the inquiry heard last week.
(20) Our most excruciating agony is of not being noticed in the world.
Ordeal
Definition:
(n.) An ancient form of test to determine guilt or innocence, by appealing to a supernatural decision, -- once common in Europe, and still practiced in the East and by savage tribes.
(n.) Any severe trial, or test; a painful experience.
(a.) Of or pertaining to trial by ordeal.
Example Sentences:
(1) We have much more fighting to do!” Now Cherwell is preparing to publish letters or articles from other students who have been inspired to open up about their own ordeals.
(2) Collins later thanked the condemned man for what he said was the respect he showed toward the execution team and for the way he endured the ordeal.
(3) Cal Zastrow, also with the group, said that, although he has stood by Davis throughout the ordeal, he wouldn’t support the clerk’s policy to allow deputies to issue licenses without her authorization.
(4) They said that the family were sure DNA tests would prove she is their biological relative, but added they had been "traumatised" by the ordeal.
(5) Skin deepithelialization is an integral part of many reconstructive procedures, but it can be a tedious and time-consuming ordeal when using conventional techniques.
(6) Rose, a Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design fine art graduate, said she is determined that the rules should be changed "as this treatment is becoming more commonplace for Crohn's disease sufferers and I would not want any other woman to have to go through this ordeal".
(7) As for Botha, he breathed a sigh of relief that his ordeal was over.
(8) Liang's ordeal ended when he grew so sick that he could no longer rise from his bed for the struggle sessions.
(9) The exercise was the highlight and halfway point of the Mars500 project, which aims to find out how humans would cope with the psychological ordeal of a real trip to Mars.
(10) Sami said all the survivors are likely to need psychological support after their ordeal.
(11) If this is not the case then we are keen to speak to victims and learn any lessons we can to improve our investigations.” Allen told the Observer that she had been left “a changed person” after the ordeal, feeling isolated from friends and family.
(12) Having concluded one part of their quest for justice, they now look to the British criminal courts to hold those responsible for their ordeal to account and await the judge-led inquiry they have been promised.” Belhaj, who last year led the battle for Tripoli, said: “When my friend Sami al-Saadi was freed from Abu Salim prison on 23 August 2011, he weighed seven stone.
(13) Ai emerged from his ordeal in June, far slimmer – having lost almost 10kg, some of which he has regained – and apparently chastened.
(14) FNAC not only helped detect early cancers, but its negative findings resulted in sparing patients the ordeal of surgical biopsy for benign conditions.
(15) A woman who had acid thrown in her face has spoken of her ordeal, describing the pain like being constantly stabbed in the eyes.
(16) He talked about the ordeal of retrieving dead bodies, and was critical of the defence department’s handling of personnel who had experienced trauma.
(17) John Kampfner Nick Griffin received the oxygen of publicity he craved, but at the end of a nation?s ordeal democracy emerged intact.
(18) Day is seeking compensation for those who survived the alleged ordeal.
(19) The spokeswoman said: “The prime minister recognises that the families of those hostages who were murdered have been through a terrible ordeal.
(20) The 12-hour ordeal for Stephanie – who did not wish to speak on the record or use her real name for fear of jeopardizing her job prospects – took place after police found one ounce of marijuana in her car.