the.com/agony
Agony is suffering so intense it overwhelms the mind and body completely.
means Extreme physical or mental suffering, intense enough to overwhelm and consume whoever's in it.
from From Greek 'agonia,' which originally meant the struggle or contest for victory in athletic games — the sweat, strain, and desperate effort of competitors fighting to win. It shifted to mean mental anguish, then the broader, crushing suffering we mean today. So buried in this word is a ghost of the arena: agony was once something you trained for and fought through, not just something that happened to you.
- greek root
- agon meant contest or struggle, not suffering
- original sense
- the anguish of competitors before a match
- agony aunt
- british term for advice columnists since 1930s
- ecstasy kinship
- both words once described overwhelming bodily seizure