as in bitterly
with feelings of bitterness or grief
agonizingly made the decision to have her beloved cat put to sleep
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Recent Examples of agonizingly
As with any mission that ventures beyond near-Earth orbit, portions of the journey will be agonizingly isolating.
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Jackie Wattles, CNN Money, 31 Dec. 2025
At first, these were agonizingly slow and laborious series of movements designed to mortify the flesh – to help the spiritual overcome the physical – and instill discipline and union among the members.
—Christian Goodwillie, The Conversation, 22 Dec. 2025
There is a lot of agonizingly unsubtle product placement — for AMC theaters, Starry soda, even Paramount itself.
—Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 22 Oct. 2025
The Americans did rally on Sunday, winning 8 1/2 out of a possible 12 points to come agonizingly close to what would have been the greatest moment in Ryder Cup history.
—Hugh Kellenberger, New York Times, 30 Sep. 2025
The pirates forced the survivors to help load the ship with as many ore containers as the ship could carry before sending them back to the ice moon to agonizingly await whatever would be their fate.
—Manuel Muñoz, Literary Hub, 11 Sep. 2025
The Democratic Party has held the governor’s mansion since 1985, including one agonizingly close election that is widely regarded by local Republicans to have been stolen.
—Jeremy Lott, The Washington Examiner, 8 Aug. 2025
Many of them leaned into generative AI and LLMs during their schooling, often doing so on their own since the university was either silent on the matter or was agonizingly trying to figure out what role AI should have in the medical education arena.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 4 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for agonizingly
Adverb
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Its inhabitants were left without light or heat during a bitterly cold polar vortex, with temperatures as low as 2 degrees Fahrenheit.—
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Hasina was bitterly criticized by both her opponents and independent critics for sending Zia to jail.—
Adverb
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This should be, but sadly will probably not be, the line that shouldn’t have been crossed.—
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Discovering the chemicals responsible for smoke taint is, sadly, only half the battle.—
Adverb
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Inspired by a 2017 Los Angeles Time article about a San Gabriel Valley tragedy, director Eric Lin’s heartbreaking feature painfully reminds us of the need to get help and how mental health issues within Asian cultures need to be destigmatized.—
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By Sunday, he was gone, a mercifully swift ending to painfully slow decline.—
Adverb
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Tarun would tease her, and my mother would look sorrowfully toward Kavitha, as if the two of them now shared some womanly burden.—
Adverb
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Alexandria has been really hard hit, down 50% in that period.—
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For instance, walking most days is far better than exercising hard once a month.—
Adverb
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For their part, Democratic leaders spoke mournfully of limits, of energy shortages, of national decline, of a crisis of confidence itself.—
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Based on the Dylan Thomas prose poem of the same name, published in 1952, the film lovingly and mournfully depicts the boyhood Christmastime of an old Welshman, tenderly and a tad mischievously embodied by Elliott.—
Cite this Entry
“Agonizingly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/agonizingly. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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