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Definitions

agonize

[ag-uh-nahyz] / ˈæg əˌnaɪz /


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.

See Examples For:

That gave staffers roughly a month to agonize over whether they would be on the list, some of them in public.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026

“I used to agonize over things. I worry a lot less today. You realize that what shows up in the process, that might take you by surprise, is often better than what you’d planned for.”

From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2025

Refusing even a hint of introspection, she added: “We don’t agonize over what happened. We organize about what comes next.”

From Slate ● Nov. 15, 2024

When they wed, their fans swoon; when stars divorce, people agonize over what went wrong.

From Salon ● Jan. 5, 2024

Ewan pretended to agonize over this tempting offer.

From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell

In 1415, on the eve of challenging France at the Battle of Agincourt, he agonizes about the moral burdens of kingship.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026

Miyazaki agonizes over the character of the Great Uncle who has built the fantastical world of the tower in “The Boy and The Heron.”

From Salon ● Dec. 24, 2024

Tellez left Citrus College in October 2020 and still agonizes over the decision.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 18, 2022

Months later, she still fights feeling of resentment mixed with worry and agonizes over her belief that her return to work had left her mother more vulnerable to Covid.

From New York Times ● May 14, 2022

For the rest of the play, Hamlet agonizes.

From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman

Do I even have a future? she agonized on loop.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026

Faisuris Alvarez, who runs a beachside fish stand, agonized aloud over these questions without answers.

From Barron's ● Jul. 11, 2026

Unlike Steve, I haven’t agonized much about my bygone career or felt much of a vacuum where it once was.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026

Only much later did I find out what agonized him, when I approached his booth and asked if he was taking requests.

From Salon ● Dec. 14, 2025

I ignored him, I closed my eyes, trying to block out all the din around me and focusing only on the voices in my headset, where the Frenchman was keeping his agonized wait.

From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse

Among them are white male entitlement versus the crushing demands of Black exceptionalism; the complicated bond linking fathers to sons; and the agonizing bravery required of mothers raising boys the world is conditioned to ostracize.

From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2026

Collins stood outside for several agonizing minutes, hearing their muffled voices.

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026

They had already waited four agonizing days for Venezuela’s bureaucracy to approve permits for them to enter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026

Pessina and her siblings began an agonizing search.

From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 2026

My head throbbed in time with my heartbeat as I knelt down in front of her, and for several agonizing seconds, it was all that I could hear.

From "The Darkest Minds" by Alexandra Bracken




Vocabulary lists containing agonize


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