suffering

/ˈsʌfərɪŋ/

/ˈsʌfərɪŋ/

Other forms: sufferings; sufferingly

Suffering is the kind of pain you feel when you shatter your ankle and it's what you'll see all around you if you find yourself in the middle of a tornado or an earthquake.

When you're suffering, you're not happy — in fact, you're quite miserable. The Latin roots that give us suffering and related words paint a vivid picture of what suffering feels like. The word comes from sub-, meaning "below," and ferre, "bear." Suffering is something pressing you down that you have to submit to and bear. It's definitely the opposite of fun.

Definitions of suffering

1. noun

   feelings of mental or physical pain
   synonyms: hurt

   types:

   agony, torment, torture

   intense feelings of suffering; acute mental or physical pain

   throes

   violent pangs of suffering

   discomfort, irritation, soreness

   an uncomfortable feeling of mental painfulness or distress

   type of:

   pain, painfulness

   emotional distress; a fundamental feeling that people try to avoid
2. noun

   psychological suffering
   synonyms: distress, hurt

   types:

   anguish, torment, torture

   extreme mental distress

   self-torment, self-torture

   self-imposed distress

   tsoris

   (Yiddish) trouble and suffering

   wound

   a figurative injury (to your feelings or pride)

   type of:

   pain, painfulness

   emotional distress; a fundamental feeling that people try to avoid
3. noun

   a state of acute pain
   synonyms: agony, excruciation

   types:

   throe

   severe spasm of pain

   Passion, Passion of Christ

   the suffering of Jesus at the Crucifixion

   type of:

   hurting, pain

   a symptom of some physical hurt or disorder
4. noun

   misery resulting from affliction
   synonyms: woe

   type of:

   miserableness, misery, wretchedness

   a state of ill-being due to affliction or misfortune
5. adjective

   troubled by pain or loss
   “suffering refugees”

   synonyms:

   troubled

   characterized by or indicative of distress or affliction or danger or need
6. adjective

   very unhappy; full of misery
   “a message of hope for suffering humanity”

   synonyms: miserable, wretched

   unhappy

   experiencing or marked by or causing sadness or sorrow or discontent