throe
Sharp suffering wave
A throe is a spasm of intense pain, especially one accompanying childbirth or death.
The word appears almost exclusively in the plural, often in the phrase in the throes of, which describes being in the midst of a painful, difficult, or overwhelming experience: in the throes of labor, in the throes of passion, in the throes of a heated argument.
The expression suggests struggle and intensity rather than mere difficulty.
Bodily or emotional distress
- pangBrief sharp sensation
- spasmInvoluntary muscle contraction
- crampPainful muscle seizure
- convulsionSudden involuntary muscle contractions
paroxysm · twinge · seizure · contortion · wrack · shudder · tremor · writhing
Intense mental suffering
- tormentSevere prolonged suffering
- tortureDeliberate infliction of suffering
- miseryIntense prolonged distress
- distressSevere anxiety or suffering
affliction · woe · grief · heartache · desolation · despair · trauma · suffering
Shortened word forms
- laborStrenuous effort; also childbirth
- deliveryConveyance of goods
- birthComing into the world
- parturitionAct of giving birth
travail · pushing · crowning · dilation · midwife · doula · maternity · obstetrics
Violent disturbance of order
- turmoilViolent disturbance or confusion
- transformationThorough change in form
- transitionChange from one state
- crisisDecisive dangerous moment
chaos · revolution · change · dissolution · collapse · emergence · creation · destruction
pain
Bodily or emotional distress
convulsion · paroxysm · twinge · seizure · contortion · wrack · shudder · tremor · writhing · contraction
anguish
Intense mental suffering
- tormentSevere prolonged suffering
- tortureDeliberate infliction of suffering
- miseryIntense prolonged distress
distress · affliction · woe · grief · heartache · desolation · despair · trauma · suffering · tribulation
contractions
Shortened word forms
parturition · travail · pushing · crowning · dilation · midwife · doula · maternity · obstetrics · epidural
upheaval
Violent disturbance of order
- turmoilViolent disturbance or confusion
- transformationThorough change in form
- transitionChange from one state
crisis · chaos · revolution · change · dissolution · collapse · emergence · creation · destruction · midst
death
Cessation of life
expiring · passing · demise · agony · deathbed · terminal · fading · ending · departing · mortality
throecalm
Free from agitation
peace · stillness · serenity · placidity · steadiness
throestillness
Complete lack of motion
peace · calm · resolution · completion · rest
- throes of passionIntense emotional or physical abandon
- death throesFinal moments of dying
- in the throes ofIntensely experiencing something difficult