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# excruciating

adjective; verb form (excruciate — rare)

«excruciating» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. Extremely painful. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/excruciating/#m1)
2. (informal) Terribly embarrassing, boring or awkward, so that you can hardly bear it. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/excruciating/#m2)

### In the lessons

Sense 1 is used for real pain (an excruciating toothache, broken bone). Sense 2 is a common exaggeration in everyday talk: «excruciating embarrassment», «an excruciating speech». In safety lessons, excruciating pain is a reason to get help quickly.

### Examples

- The pain in his broken leg was excruciating. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/excruciating/#x1)
- She had an excruciating toothache all night. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/excruciating/#x2)
- The wait for the test results was excruciating. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/excruciating/#x3)
- It was excruciating when Dad danced at my party. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/excruciating/#x4)
- The speech was so long and boring it was excruciating. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/excruciating/#x5)
- Stinging nettles can be painful, but a wasp sting can be excruciating. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/excruciating/#x6)

### Note

Adjective; pronounced ex-KROO-shee-ay-ting. It comes from Latin for «torture» or «cross». It is a strong word; save it for very bad pain or very bad embarrassment. The adverb is «excruciatingly».

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «excruciating» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/E/excruciating/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«excruciating» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/excruciating.html) on Mova free.