human suffering
The shared ordeal
Human suffering is physical or mental anguish experienced by people—pain, grief, deprivation, or distress.
The phrase often appears in contexts discussing its scope or cause: war brings immense human suffering, the human suffering caused by the famine.
It frames pain as a shared condition, emphasizing our collective vulnerability rather than individual misfortune.
- despairTotal absence of hope
- anguishIntense mental suffering
- mental anguishSevere psychological distress
- illnessState of poor health
- chronic painEnduring physical suffering
losing hope · grief · broken heart · trauma · emotional scars · pain · injury · hopelessness · injustice · oppression · mass graves · hunger · exploitation · child labor · poverty · war · natural disaster · inequality
- Biblical Sufferingaffliction, agony, anguish, Job, lament
- theodicytheodicy, problem of evil, divine justice, greater good, Job
- ancient philosophyPlato, Aristotle, Socrates, Platonism, Epicureanism
- Pandora mythPandora, Pandora's box, hope, Zeus, Prometheus
human sufferingbliss
Perfect, serene felicity
joy · human flourishing · contentment · pleasure · delight
human sufferingnirvana
Release from cyclical existence
liberation · salvation · enlightenment · moksha · paradise