What does agonize mean?
Agonize is a verb meaning to experience intense mental anguish, most commonly by worrying at length over a difficult decision or troubling problem. When someone agonizes, they turn a matter over and over in their mind, often with visible distress — she might agonize for days before resigning, or agonize over which university to attend. The word nearly always takes 'over' or 'about' to introduce the cause of torment: agonize over a choice, agonize about a mistake. It can also describe acute physical struggling or pain, though this sense survives mainly in British English. Derived from the Greek agōn, meaning contest or struggle, agonize carries vivid dramatic weight; it suggests not mere concern but genuine inner conflict. Its derivatives include agony (the noun), agonizing (adjective), and agonizingly (adverb). Because it conveys prolonged, consuming distress rather than passing worry, agonize is a powerful choice when you want to emphasize how deeply someone wrestled with something.
verbTo agonize is to suffer intense mental anguish or worry, typically over a difficult decision or problem; in British usage it can also mean to struggle physically or be in acute physical pain.
- To suffer intense mental anguish, especially through prolonged worry or deliberation over a decision.
- (British) To struggle painfully or suffer acute physical pain.
"She agonized for weeks before finally accepting the job offer."
"He agonized over whether to tell his friend the truth."
"The team agonized all night before submitting their final proposal."
Agonize comes from the Greek 'agōn', meaning a contest or struggle — so every time you agonize over a choice, you're literally re-enacting an ancient Greek athletic battle, just with your mind instead of your muscles.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of agonize
Agonize derives from the Greek agōn, meaning a contest, struggle, or assembly for games — the same root that gives us agony, antagonist, and protagonist. The Greek verb agōnizesthai meant to contend or fight for a prize, and the word passed into English via Latin and French, becoming established in English around the late sixteenth to early seventeenth century. Originally it could refer to physical struggle or combat, but its dominant modern sense of mental anguish developed as the notion of internal 'contest' became central to its use.
Related word forms
How agonize is actually used
Agonize is almost always followed by 'over' or 'about' when it refers to mental anguish. It carries a connotation of excessive, drawn-out distress — often implying that the worrying may be disproportionate to the situation. The physical-pain sense is now largely confined to British English and is less common than the mental sense everywhere.
Easily confused with agonize
Agony is the noun referring to extreme suffering itself, while agonize is the verb describing the act of experiencing or wrestling with that suffering.