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harrowing

[har-oh-ing]

Origin

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adjective

extremely disturbing or distressing; grievous: a harrowing experience.

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Origin:
1800–10; harrow¹ + -ing²

Related forms

har·row·ing·ly, adverb

Synonyms
painful, agonizing, tormenting, heartbreaking.

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Harrowing is always a great word to know.

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an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.

a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.

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Dictionary.com Unabridged

noun

an agricultural implement with spikelike teeth or upright disks, drawn chiefly over plowed land to level it, break up clods, root up weeds, etc.

verb (used with object)

to draw a harrow over (land).

to disturb keenly or painfully; distress the mind, feelings, etc., of.

verb (used without object)

to become broken up by harrowing, as soil.

Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English harwe; akin to Old Norse herfi harrow, Dutch hark rake, Greek krṓpion sickle

Related forms

har·row·er, noun

verb (used with object) Archaic.

to ravish; violate; despoil.

harry (def. 2).

(of Christ) to descend into (hell) to free the righteous held captive.

Origin:
before 1000; Middle English harwen, herwen, Old English hergian to harry

Related forms

har·row·ment, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To harrowing

Collins

World English Dictionary

harrow¹ (ˈhærəʊ)

—n
1.	any of various implements used to level the ground, stir the soil, break up clods, destroy weeds, etc, in soil

—vb
2.	(tr) to draw a harrow over (land)
3.	(intr) (of soil) to become broken up through harrowing
4.	(tr) to distress; vex

[C13: of Scandinavian origin; compare Danish harv, Swedish harf; related to Middle Dutch harke rake]

'harrower¹

—n

'harrowing¹

—*adj*, —n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

harrowing

"extremely distressing, painful," 1810, from harrow (q.v.).

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Related Words

anastasis fallow

harrow till

Matching Quote

"When man has neither the strength to subdue his underworld powers—which are really the ancient powers of his old, superseded self; nor the wit to placate them with sacrifice and the burnt holocaust; then they come back at him, and destroy him again. Hence every new conquest of life means a "harrowing of Hell.""

-D.H. Lawrence

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