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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
anguish
noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
mental
▪ He has endured mental anguish, mind-breaking guilts and lacerating physical pain.
▪ And the mental anguish was unremitting as well, not only for her but for those of us around her.
▪ It is a genuine attack by the self upon the body, by which mental anguish is swapped for bodily pain.
▪ Surely it is a poignant reminder of the capacity of the human being to suffer mental anguish.
▪ Whether you are experiencing physical pain, mental anguish or emotional distress, you will feel it deeply at the time.
▪ They may claim damages for any mental anguish.
▪ And the pain, the mental anguish she would cause Ronnie, making her responsible for her death.
personal
▪ Only the extraordinary personal anguish expressed by the judges themselves reminds us of the human horror at the centre of it all.
■ VERB
cause
▪ Even though thousands of people die violently each year in Sri Lanka, the death of an important figure causes national anguish.
▪ This is a peculiarly nasty technique of persuasion, causing great psychological anguish throughout the middle ages and even today.
suffer
▪ Politicians who objected to Mrs Thatcher and her radical conviction politics suffered the anguish of apparently unresolvable frustration.
▪ Surely it is a poignant reminder of the capacity of the human being to suffer mental anguish.
▪ Twenty miles away on the outskirts of Southampton, former hospital worker Marie, 27, is suffering the same anguish.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ The anguish of not knowing the truth was almost unbearable.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Again and again and again, the wordless timid sounds of anguish continued.
▪ It brought home the family's humiliation and anguish after being forced to move out.
▪ Of course, in past centuries, no global news network existed to capture the anguish of the victims.
▪ Only the extraordinary personal anguish expressed by the judges themselves reminds us of the human horror at the centre of it all.
▪ She sat for a while, checking an anguish which made her want to sob.
▪ Some were written in anguish, others in hope.
▪ Whether the cries of anguish for 1991 alone are justified remains to be seen.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Anguish

Anguish \An"guish\, v. t. [Cf. F. angoisser, fr. L. angustiare.] To distress with extreme pain or grief. [R.]
--Temple.

Anguish

Anguish \An"guish\, n. [OE. anguishe, anguise, angoise, F. angoisse, fr. L. angustia narrowness, difficulty, distress, fr. angustus narrow, difficult, fr. angere to press together. See Anger.] Extreme pain, either of body or mind; excruciating distress.

But they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage.
--Ex. vi. 9.

Anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child.
--Jer. iv. 31.

Note: Rarely used in the plural:

Ye miserable people, you must go to God in anguishes, and make your prayer to him.
--Latimer.

Syn: Agony; pang; torture; torment. See Agony.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
anguish

c.1200, "acute bodily or mental suffering," from Old French anguisse, angoisse "choking sensation, distress, anxiety, rage," from Latin angustia (plural angustiae) "tightness, straitness, narrowness;" figuratively "distress, difficulty," from ang(u)ere "to throttle, torment" (see anger (v.)).

anguish

early 14c., intransitive and reflexive; mid-14c., transitive, from Old French anguissier (Modern French angoisser), from anguisse (see anguish (n.)). Related: Anguished; anguishing.

Wiktionary
anguish

n. extreme pain, either of body or mind; excruciating distress. vb. 1 (context intransitive English) To suffer pain. 2 (context transitive English) To cause to suffer pain.

WordNet
anguish
  1. n. extreme mental distress [syn: torment, torture]

  2. extreme distress of body or mind

  3. v. suffer great pains or distress

  4. cause emotional anguish or make miserable; "It pains me to see my children not being taught well in school" [syn: pain, hurt]

Wikipedia
Anguish

Anguish is a term used in philosophy, often as a translation from the Latin for angst. It is a paramount feature of existentialist philosophy, in which anguish is often understood as the experience of an utterly free being in a world with zero absolutes (existential despair). In the theology of Kierkegaard, it refers to a being with total free will who is in a constant state of spiritual fear that his freedom will lead him to fall short of the standards that God has laid out for them.

Anguish (1987 film)

Anguish is a 1987 Spanish-produced horror film starring Zelda Rubinstein, Michael Lerner, Talia Paul, Angel Jove and Clara Pastor.

Anguish (2015 film)

Anguish is a 2015 horror film that was written and directed by Sonny Mallhi and marks his directorial debut. The film had its world premiere on July 21, 2015 at the Fantasia International Film Festival and stars Ryan Simpkins as a young woman whose mental issues may be a result of the paranormal.

Anguish (1917 film)

Anguish'' (French:Angoisse'') is a 1917 French silent film directed by André Hugon and starring Paul Guidé, Albert Dieudonné and Marie-Louise Derval.

Anguish (1947 film)

Anguish'' (Spanish:Angustia'') is a 1947 Spanish crime film directed by José Antonio Nieves Conde and starring Rafael Bardem, Julia Caba Alba and María Francés.

Usage examples of "anguish".

I shall never forget the anguish and loathing on her face when she realised what she had become.

His eyes were so rarely anything but tranquil that the anguish in them cut right through her.

I described the anguish of watching my family growing older, suffering every wound that mortality can inflict.

To save them present pain at the risk of future anguish, to consult the feelings of her brother, in preference to his morality, would be forgetting every lesson of her life, which, from its earliest dawn, had imbibed a love of virtue, that made her consider whatever was offensive to it as equally disgusting and unhappy.

Edgar, her uncertainty of his intentions, her suspicions of his wished secession, the severe task she thought necessary to perform of giving him his liberty, with the anguish of a total inability to judge whether such a step would recall his tenderness, or precipitate his retreat, were suggestions which quickly succeeded, and, in a very short time, wholly domineered over every other.

But her brother, to whom the blow was new, and the consequences were still impending, was struck with extreme anguish, that while thus every possible hope was extinguished with regard to his love, he must suddenly apply himself to some business, or be reduced to the most obscure poverty.

Camilla in an anguish that, at his return, seemed quite to have changed her.

She wrung her hands in anguish, and besought him to send instantly an express to Etherington, with the fatal tidings.

Broken hearted over these letters, Camilla spent her time in their perpetual perusal, in wiping from them her tears, and pressing with fond anguish to her lips the signature of her hapless sister, self-beguiled by her own credulous goodness, and self-devoted by her conscientious scruples.

Yet, her faculties confused, hurried, and in anguish, permitted little more than incoherent ejaculations.

Again he went over the events of the afternoon, remembering his own anguish of apprehension because he had known he could not climb the wall without fainting with fear.

She looked and looked at the baby, and almost hated it, and suffered an anguish of love for it.

There was an ease, a go-as-you-please about the day underground, a delightful camaraderie of men shut off alone from the rest of the world, in a dangerous place, and a variety of labour, holing, loading, timbering, and a glamour of mystery and adventure in the atmosphere, that made the pit not unattractive to him when he had again got over his anguish of desire for the open air and the sea.

Even with this anguish for his mother tightening about him, he was sensible of the wonder of living this evening.

This terror came in from the shrieking of the tree and the anguish of the home discord.