In a manner showing extreme suffering, pain, or emotional distress.
From 'agonize' (to suffer intensely) plus the adverb suffix '-ly.' 'Agonize' comes from Greek 'agonizesthai,' meaning to struggle or contend, which evolved to mean mental or physical struggle against pain.
This word is rarely used today, but when it appears in older literature, it captures something about suffering that modern words like 'painfully' or 'miserably' can't quite match—it suggests a dramatic, visible writhing rather than quiet misery.
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