agony

Meaning

Noun

• Extreme pain.
• The sufferings of Jesus Christ in the garden of Gethsemane.
• Violent contest or striving.
• Paroxysm of joy; keen emotion.
• The last struggle of life; death struggle.

Related

Similar words

• anguish, torment, throe, distress, pang, suffering

Opposite words

• ecstasy

Origin

• 14th century, via Old French and Latin; from Ancient Greek ἀγωνία, from ἀγών. Specifically of the struggle that precedes death (mortal agony) from the 1540s.
• The sense of "extreme pain" from c. 1600.