n. (pl. -ies) 1 extreme mental or physical suffering. 2 a severe struggle. agony aunt colloq. a person (esp. a woman) who answers letters in an agony column. agony column colloq. 1 a column in a newspaper or magazine offering personal advice to readers who write in. 2 = personal column.
[ ME f. OF agonie or LL f. Gk agonia f. agon contest ]