agonize
/ˈæɡ.ɪ.naɪz/
"agonize" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“agonize” is uncommon English (frequency #80,158 among 3,931 “A” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #80,158
- frequency rank, English
- 3,931
- “A” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To writhe with agony; to suffer violent anguish.
Corpus desk
Index EN-agonize · agonize · English
agonize · rank #80,158 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #80,158
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,931
- PHOTO-FINISH adobo
Nearest frequency peer: adobo (-2 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “agonize”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Aalborg
Aalborg
19,850 corpus weight
- adjectival
adjectival
19,846 corpus weight
- adobo
adobo
19,845 corpus weight
- agonize
agonize
19,843 corpus weight
- ahu
ahu
19,840 corpus weight
- aisling
aisling
19,838 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “agonize” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | agonize |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈæɡ.ɪ.naɪz/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #80,158 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “agonize” in English
Rare enough to double-check
agonize is uncommon English at frequency #80,158 among 3,931 “A” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed /ˈæɡ.ɪ.naɪz/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for agonize in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From French agoniser, from Late Latin agonizare, from Ancient Greek ἀγωνίζομαι (agōnízomai, “to fight, contend”). See agony. The correct English form is agonize, spelled A-G-O-N-I-Z-E.
Definition
- 1To writhe with agony; to suffer violent anguish.
- 2To struggle; to wrestle; to strive desperately, whether mentally or physically.
- 3To cause agony or anguish in someone.
- 4To act as an agonist upon; to combine with a receptor on a cell to produce a physiological reaction.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how agonize appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
His Touch, if tremblingly alive all o’er, / To smart, and agonize at ev’ry pore?
So I took a last stare round, agonizing to see if there was any way of escape; but the stone walls and roof were solid enough to crush me, and the stack of casks too closely packed to hide more than a rat.
Etymology
From French agoniser, from Late Latin agonizare, from Ancient Greek ἀγωνίζομαι (agōnízomai, “to fight, contend”). See agony.
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "agonize", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).