adjective
-
feeling or expressing anguish
Other Word Forms
- nonanguished adjective
- unanguished adjective
Etymology
Origin of anguished
Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; anguish, -ed 3
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Mr. Mahajan’s “The Complex” is an anguished, intelligent study of ambition decoupled from principles, and of the complacency and fear that allows it to thrive.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 11, 2026
Scenes of celebration at the prison gates included several prisoners with shaved heads who shouted "We are free!" as they exited, ending an anguished wait by their families.
From Barron's • Feb. 23, 2026
We would live in a swirl of anguished mass confusion.
From Slate • Jan. 9, 2026
Her character has tracked him down for a reckoning that is all the more anguished for being so dangerously ambiguous.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 15, 2025
Her joints were swollen and stiff, making her crooked, and it anguished her to walk.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.