agonize - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From French agoniser, from Late Latin agonizare, from Ancient Greek ἀγωνίζομαι (agōnízomai, “to fight, contend”). See agony. By surface analysis, agon +‎ -ize.

agonize (third-person singular simple present agonizes, present participle agonizing, simple past and past participle agonized)

  1. (intransitive) To writhe with agony; to suffer violent anguish.
    Synonyms: ache, hurt; see also Thesaurus:suffer
  2. (intransitive, literary) To struggle; to wrestle; to strive desperately, whether mentally or physically.
    Synonyms: fret; see also Thesaurus:agonize
    • [1898], J[ohn] Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, →OCLC:
      So I took a last stare round, agonizing to see if there was any way of escape; but the stone walls and roof were solid enough to crush me, and the stack of casks too closely packed to hide more than a rat.
  3. (transitive) To cause agony or anguish in someone.
    Synonyms: afflict, torment; see also Thesaurus:hurt
    • 1935, George Orwell, A Clergyman’s Daughter, page 8:
      That dreadful bill […] was one of the chief torments of her life. At all hours of the night or day it was waiting just round the corner of her consciousness, ready to spring upon her and agonise her […]
  4. (transitive, biochemistry, pharmacology) To act as an agonist upon; to combine with a receptor on a cell to produce a physiological reaction.

to struggle

agonize

  1. inflection of agonizar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative