agony column

noun

a section or column in a newspaper containing advertisements by individuals seeking missing relatives or lost pets or possessions, announcing the end of a marriage, etc.

agony column

a magazine or newspaper feature in which advice is offered to readers who have sent in letters about their personal problems
a part of a newspaper containing advertisements for lost relatives, personal messages, etc

First recorded in 1860–65

Reynolds wrote an agony column, “Susan Chester Heart-to-Heart Letters,” for the Brooklyn Eagle.

As everybody knows, the Agony Column of a daily paper is not actually so domestic as it seems.

I read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column.

It is my habit to read the “Agony Column” (as it is flippantly called), the second column in the outer sheet of the Times.

This string of intimate messages, popularly known as the Agony Column, has long been an honored institution in the English press.

At this point West's strawberries arrived and even the Agony Column could not hold his interest.

April 24, 2024gallimaufry

[gal-uh-maw-free ]

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