How to Use agonizing in a Sentence

agonizing

adjective
  • She made the agonizing decision to cancel the trip.
  • He was in agonizing pain.
  • The agonizing wait was finally over.
  • Eighty of those days were spent in agonizing pain from a gunshot wound.
    — Scott Tobias, Vulture, 6 Nov. 2025
  • On its own, the death of any child is a painful and agonizing time for a parent.
    — Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 5 Mar. 2024
  • The night was agonizing, a swirl of numbers and maps, blue walls and red waves.
    — Bill Glauber, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 5 Nov. 2020
  • Saying goodbye to a loved one on a cell phone held up by a nurse, agonizing.
    — CBS News, 7 Mar. 2021
  • This has been an agonizing turn of events for what was to be such a special weekend.
    — Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone, 10 Sep. 2023
  • Fans know all about the agonizing playoff losses, but this was so much fun.
    — Terry Pluto, cleveland, 26 May 2021
  • Part of what's so agonizing to him about the entire saga is that he was caught flat-footed.
    — Jon Wertheim, SI.com, 21 Dec. 2017
  • Some were fleeting but agonizing, like the long lines to get into stores.
    — Gary Warth, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 June 2021
  • The implant had left her in severe pain, which, as time passed, grew more agonizing.
    — Marwa Eltagouri, ajc, 30 May 2018
  • Three agonizing post-season strikes has to mean Roberts is out.
    — Los Angeles Times, 18 Oct. 2019
  • To see sports go away for that long was an agonizing time for fans across the area, one that many won't take for granted again.
    — Briar Napier, The Arizona Republic, 11 July 2020
  • But having to tell someone that out loud was agonizing.
    — Autumn Barnes, NPR, 25 Aug. 2025
  • For Heather, those days were agonizing.
    — Sarah Dahlberg, NBC news, 13 May 2026
  • But each of the past four seasons has produced an ending more agonizing than the last.
    — Corey Masisak, Denver Post, 31 May 2026
  • On one end, there's the soldier forced to make morally agonizing choices in a war zone.
    — Steve Salee, Forbes, 20 Feb. 2024
  • Watching the skiers geared up and ready to go only to have the race canceled at the last minute was agonizing.
    — Ed Meza, Variety, 2 Oct. 2024
  • These are the most agonizing moments of our lives and of our families.
    — Beth Bailey, FOXNews.com, 17 Oct. 2025
  • Gruesome as his actions might be, they were done in the hope of sparing a child from an even more agonizing end.
    — Josh Weiss, Forbes.com, 11 June 2026
  • Losing stinks—and the what-ifs and could-have-beens in the postseason can be agonizing.
    — Chris Morris, Fortune, 12 Feb. 2024
  • But for the loved ones of the three still missing, an agonizing wait continues.
    — Kocha Olarn, CNN Money, 20 Mar. 2026
  • But to even start that journey requires an agonizing, sober look in the mirror.
    — Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 18 May 2026
  • After the treacherous swim and agonizing bike ride, the run will seem easy.
    — Maeve Dunigan, New Yorker, 25 Nov. 2025
  • Just as agonizing was the wait for answers in Megan Tilman's death.
    — Jeff Truesdell, PEOPLE.com, 28 Jan. 2022
  • All this self-agonizing left the rest of the cast and crew waiting around for hours, their goodwill draining away.
    — Literary Hub, 26 May 2026
  • That agonizing decision to either risk it and go for it or to have to go somewhere and get change.
    — Corky Carroll, Orange County Register, 26 Jan. 2024
  • And for 36 hours, not knowing whether there was a cow trapped under there, was agonizing.
    — Rick Barrett, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 17 Apr. 2018
  • The question of how to avoid bringing the virus to family is an agonizing one.
    — Sarah Feldberg, SFChronicle.com, 20 June 2020

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'agonizing.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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