wracking
Inflicting severe pain
Wracking is a variant spelling of racking, used especially in the phrase nerve-wracking.
To wrack is to cause great physical or mental suffering: wracked with guilt, wracked by pain.
The spelling reflects confusion between rack (the torture device that stretches the body) and wrack (ruin or destruction, as in wrack and ruin).
Both spellings are standard, though some style guides prefer rack.
Intense mental suffering
- tormentSevere prolonged suffering
- tortureDeliberate infliction of suffering
- distressSevere anxiety or suffering
- sufferingSustained experience of distress
guilt · grief · doubt · anxiety · haunting · obsessing · tormenting · plaguing
Persistent dull discomfort
- throbBeat with intensity
- agonyExtreme physical or emotional pain
- spasmInvoluntary muscle contraction
- crampPainful muscle seizure
pain · soreness · stabbing · shooting · convulsive · shuddering · shaking · trembling
Seat of cognition
- mindSeat of consciousness
- memoryMind's retention capacity
- puzzlingCausing confusion or bewilderment
- searchingLooking to find
straining · thinking · concentrating · deliberating · pondering · wrestling · grappling · struggling
anguish
Intense mental suffering
- tormentSevere prolonged suffering
- tortureDeliberate infliction of suffering
- distressSevere anxiety or suffering
suffering · guilt · grief · doubt · anxiety · haunting · obsessing · tormenting · plaguing · consuming
ache
Persistent dull discomfort
cramp · pain · soreness · stabbing · shooting · convulsive · shuddering · shaking · trembling · seizure
brain
Seat of cognition
searching · straining · thinking · concentrating · deliberating · pondering · wrestling · grappling · struggling · exhausting
wrackingsoothing
Reducing distress or discomfort
calming · gentle · mild · comforting · easing
wrackingcalming
Inducing a settled state
comforting · healing · restorative · relaxing · relieving
wreck, rack, wrecked, wreckage, wrecking, racking, racks, shipwreck, racked