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throes

[throh]

Example Sentences Origin

noun

a violent spasm or pang; paroxysm.

a sharp attack of emotion.

throes,

any violent convulsion or struggle: the throes of battle.

the agony of death.

the pains of childbirth.

Origin:
1150–1200; Middle English throwe, alteration of thrawe (-o- from Old English thrōwian to suffer, be in pain), Old English thrawu; cognate with Old Norse thrā (in līkthrā leprosy)

Can be confused: throe, throw (see synonym note at throw).

Synonyms
3a. upheaval, tumult, chaos, turmoil.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Throes is always a great word to know.

So is slumgullion. Does it mean:

a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.

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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Example Sentences

Nearly everyone in the throes of a bad cold has temporarily been unable to smell a thing.

He says she's far more pleasant when she's in the throes of a new affair.

Most companies call on these services in the throes of a merger or privatisation, or when a new chief executive arrives.

EXPAND

Nearly everyone in the throes of a bad cold has temporarily been unable to smell a thing.

He says she's far more pleasant when she's in the throes of a new affair.

Most companies call on these services in the throes of a merger or privatisation, or when a new chief executive arrives.

The nebula is a record of the star's final death throes.

Now they have dozens of mature systems and dozens more in birth throes.

But a closer look reveals a city in the throes of transformation.

It's hard not to see these emerging streaming services as the death throes of the optical disk as a delivery method.

They surmised that the ring consisted of material flung off by the star in its protracted death throes.

His corruption trial will begin in the throes of the general election.

But that is scant solace to those caught up in its death throes.

But only a few years earlier he was in the throes of an inflammatory bowel disease known as ulcerative colitis.

In short, somebody in the dying throes of a week long, caffeine-fuelled coding session.

Now picture that same hotel in the throes of one of those conventions by which such hotels survive today.

These days, the two island states are in the throes of domestic crises, but they are tackling them in strikingly different ways.

We seem to be seeing a suicidal culture in its death throes.

Lehto and his design teams were in the final throes of adding last-minute details to the single-player environments.

The economy is in the throes of a gradual transition from state control to the free market.

The author, stone deaf and deep in the throes of an exhaust-note-inspired freak-out.

We the onlookers are unable to help and incapable of looking away as the final death throes approach.

These moves may be bona fide threats to openness or simply the throes of an industry undergoing commoditization.

China was a poor agricultural nation in the throes of the world's fastest industrial revolution.

Even in the throes of postproduction, the actual movie lived inside computers… but it was trying to get out.

Much of the country is in the throes of a heat wave, and the suffering is shared by humans, animals and crops alike.

Venezuela is in the throes of a presidential campaign that does not officially begin until next year.

But as it turns out, it was the husband, in the throes of a bitter divorce.

Kissel had been in the throes of a bitter divorce from his wife at the time of his murder last month.

The death throes are somewhat drawn out, but the end is inevitable.

The world is in the throes of a sweeping population and economic shift from the countryside to the city.

We've been witnessing the album's death throes in the digital era.

For the first time, they have captured images of the brains of addicts in the throes of craving.

But as it turns out, it was the husband, in the throes of a divorce.

One night, while talking with one of his stepchildren on the phone, he collapsed in the throes of a brain-stem stroke.

They are taking snapshots of a cognitive galaxy in the throes of formation.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

throes (θrəʊz)

—*pl n*
1.	a condition of violent pangs, pain, or convulsions: death throes
2.	in the throes of struggling with great effort with: a country in the throes of revolution

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

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

throe

c.1200, throwe "pain, pang of childbirth, agony of death," possibly from O.E. þrawan "twist, turn, writhe" (see throw), or altered from O.E. þrea (gen. þrawe) "affliction, pang, evil, threat" (related to þrowian "to suffer"), from P.Gmc. *thrawo (cf.

EXPAND

M.H.G. dro "threat," Ger. drohen "to threaten"). Modern spelling first recorded 1615.

COLLAPSE

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"... the one lesson in the ultimate triumph of any great actress has been to enforce the fact that a method all technique or a method all throes, is either one or the other inadequate, and often likely to work out in close proximity to the ludicrous."

-Mrs. Leslie Carter

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