Word
excruciating
Phoneticsex·cru·ci·at·ing
US/ɪksˈkɹuʃiˌeɪtɪŋ/
UK/ɛkskɹˈuːʃɪˌeɪtɪŋ/
Definition
adj. extremely painful or very embarrassing. You use this to describe a feeling that is almost too much to handle.
adj. causing intense physical or mental suffering; intensely painful or distressing. Often used to describe extreme boredom or social embarrassment.
Examples
“The pain in my broken leg was excruciating.”
“We had to sit through an excruciating three-hour presentation that could have been a short email.”
“The athlete described the final mile of the marathon as excruciating, as every muscle in her body screamed for her to stop.”
Examples
simple
“The pain in my broken leg was excruciating.”
contextual
“We had to sit through an excruciating three-hour presentation that could have been a short email.”
complex
“The athlete described the final mile of the marathon as excruciating, as every muscle in her body screamed for her to stop.”
Usage
Often used to modify nouns like 'pain', 'detail', 'boredom', or 'embarrassment'.
Pitfall
It was an excruciatingly pain
It was an excruciating pain
Learners sometimes confuse the adjective 'excruciating' with the adverb 'excruciatingly' when modifying a noun.
Real-World Examples
Common in health writing
“A badly played guitar sounds less excruciating than a badly played violin, but it soon became frustrating rather than fun.” “Yet Soph finds herself having to do some embarrassing onstage kissing with her dreamboat male co-star (Jack Champion) on whom she naturally has an excruciating crush.” Etymology
Present participle of excruciate, from Latin excruciō, from ex- + cruciō (“I torment”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/excruciating